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US Lawmakers Push For a Permanent Ban On Internet Access Taxes
jfruh (300774) writes Since 1998, U.S. law has forbidden states from taxing Internet access — but the law has an expiration date that's been extended five times now. The new Congress is attempting to make the ban permanent, but some members are objecting to the fact that the proposed bill leaves in place grandfather clauses for states like Texas and Ohio that already had taxes in place in 1998.
Later law automagically overrides, so a law cannot make anything permanent.
It is obvious that by "permanent" they mean a law without an automatic expiration date. It is much easier to let a law expire than to pass a new law, especially with the 60 vote threshold in the Senate. There is a huge bias toward inertia.
Although I agree in principle that Internet access is a dumb thing to tax, I disagree even more with the Feds telling the states what to do. If people want to elect legislators that tax their Internet access, that should be their right.
Ethical people cannot win elections. Psychopaths and lucky idiots do OK. Good people (not evil) do not seek power over others.
Perhaps it's you who does not understand how politics works.
it's not in tfa, so from another source: "Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin currently tax Internet access under ITFA's 1998 grandfather clause. Tennessee, Washington, and New Hampshire are permitted to collect Internet access taxes but do not currently do so." source: http://www.governing.com/news/... just in case anyone else was curious.