Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Internet Sales Tax Bill Dead In Congress

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-everybody-loves-new-taxes dept.

jfruh writes: Last year, a bipartisan coalition helped get the Main Street Fairness Act approved by the U.S. Senate. The bill would have allowed state and local governments to collect sales taxes on Internet sales by companies in different jurisdictions. But House Speaker John Boehner, a longtime opponent of Internet taxes, won't bring the matter to a vote in the House before the end of the year, which should kill it for the immediate future.

8 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Ok, they got ONE right... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...dunno how long the streak will last, but at least they got this one concept correct.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    1. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by Qzukk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We'll just have to see. The Republicans are in charge of congress now, so we'll see if they're actually going to shrink the size of government or spend the next two years repeatedly trying to repeal obamacare another 40 times.

      I doubt they're going to try and end the war on [insert everything here] or roll back IRS harassment powers or end civil forfeiture or rein in the NSA or anything else that I'd really like the government to stop doing.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    2. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      but at least they got this one concept correct.

      No, they got this one wrong. Taxes should be sensible, fair, and enforceable. The current system of "use taxes" is not sensible, not fair, and not enforced at all (~98% cheat). Almost everyone evades the tax, and many don't even know they are cheating. That penalizes the small number of people that are both informed and honest. It also unfairly penalizes local merchants over internet merchants that thrive (partly) because of the tax evasion by their customers.

      This was a sensible reform, and it is a shame to see it blocked.

    3. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      His point is they have spend too much time "symbolically repeal Obamacare." (Boehner's words). They can't overcome a veto and can't likely get the bill past the Senate still (or is reconciliation good now that Republicans run things?) Instead of wasting time trying to do something you'll never get done do something that you can get done. Is it too much to expect elected representatives to act like adults?

    4. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by CaptainLard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      roll back IRS harassment powers

      If they were smart they would increase IRS funding since it results in something like a 10:1 return rate. You know where the extra money would come from? Tax cheats! People who don't pay their taxes aren't your heros, they are your parasites. While I'm being wistful about things that will never happen, increased funding might even give us more streamlined processes and overcome the turbotax lobby...which for years has been lobbying against simpler taxes that you can do yourself on the IRS website, reducing errors and thus the likelihood the IRS would want to talk to you.

    5. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course they're not going to. Both the republicans and democrats are responsible for all of that.

      Indeed. The GOP has a chance here - the GOP congresscritters are now younger and more diverse than the Dems. They might just turn over a new leaf. Maybe.

      I'll be all for them if they do - they keep talking about smaller government, than maximize pork distribution. Let's see them shut down anything, anything at all. Get rid of the TSA. Get rid of any government department -- I don't even care which -- just do something to show one party really intends to shrink the government machinery, rather than making BS claims about "spending" that no one at all still believes.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    6. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      They didn't used to be. The IRS didn't used to be a part of the DNC 'silence to opposition' effort. But things have changed. That was the Change in Hope and Change.

      Obamacare has caused a massive increase in the Federal Bureaucracy, budget, and number of employees. Private Insurance are regulated to such a fine grain that their business models are now anything but private. They are useful extensions of the state and guaranteed a profit from the Federal Government when the failed plan starts to bankrupt them. Any entity under direct control of the Federal Government with guaranteed funding from US Tax Payers can't really be called 'private'.

    7. Re:Ok, they got ONE right... by Holi · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well that's a bullshit statement, Since Not one of the groups (both right and left) actually qualify for 501(c)3 status. They should all be 501(c)4 which was created just for political groups. But no they wanted to abuse the rules and hide their donors. The big right wing hullabaloo was all a smokescreen to shame the IRS into doign the wrong thing.

      If your complaining about a wrongdoing then don't defend the ones doing the wrong.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.