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Senate Passes Bill Making Internet Tax Ban Permanent (consumerist.com)
kheldan writes: Nearly two decades ago, Congress passed the first Internet Tax Freedom Act, establishing that — with a handful of grandfathered exceptions — local, state, and federal governments couldn't impose taxes on Internet access. Problem is, that law has had to be renewed over and over, each time with an expiration date. But today, the U.S. Senate finally passed a piece of legislation that would make the tax ban permanent.
Now we get to see what the Republican-controlled House does. Surely they hate taxes too...
#DeleteChrome
the US Constitution does that, too.
I know it's /., but did you not even read the summary? This has nothing to do with good purchases online. This is only about taxing internet access.
RTFA... This is a ban on taxing internet access. Not goods purchased via the Internet. Had you read the article, you would've read the last paragraph that states this does not resolve the long debated issue of taxing purchases made online.
This for banning taxes on internet service, not taxes related to purchasing goods over the internet.
This space is not for rent.
No Congress can pass a law that a subsequent Congress can't repeal. There is no such thing as "permanent."
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Learn to read. It's not sales tax it's tax on access. You know the same sort of taxes your parents paid on their land line. Something your probably never used from their basement
According to TFA, states with existing taxes have four more years to phase them out. Why give some states even one more minute of special taxes that other states aren't allowed to impose?
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
No, because this has nothing to do with sales tax.
So as you can see reading comprehension is a rare and precious commodity and most of these people think this is about sales taxes....
Anyhow, I'm ambivalent. If governments could tax internet service they would be more inclined to accommodate providers with right-of-way and other regulatory favors for digital build-outs and upgrades, so service availability might actually improve. On the other hand, I have no trouble imagining states like Illinois just pummeling citizens with stupid high taxes so they can pad their bonuses, benefits and pensions harder. They would drive people off the Internet.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Why not tax the internet? I can see not taxing it when it was a fledging system but there's no technological or bussiness reason not to tax it. Even amazon is open to this.You can be against taxes but if were going to tax regular stores it makes sense to tax the internet.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Various government agencies do collect tax on purchases made using the internet. This is just no tax on the connectivity provided by an ISP.
This bill is equivalent to replacing the furniture on the titanic
I have a saying, "You need to know when to read." Reading comprehension doesn't enter the equation until something has been read.
did you not even read the summary?
You must be new here.
All laws should have one. The entire government should have one. End the careerism
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
No Congress can actually make something permanent without a change to the constitution. It should really read "permanent until we change our minds".
Forgive me if this is a stupid question. Lots of jurisdictions impose taxes on cell phone service. Where I live right now does so. I have LTE, in which everything (voice, texts, data) is sent as data. Essentially it's purely an internet connection. If Congress makes it illegal for anyone to tax internet access, wouldn't this also cover wireless services? For previous generations of wireless technology, it could be argued that the portions not sent as data were what was being taxed. That doesn't seem to be the case for LTE where it's all data. Unless there's some specific exemption for wireless services that I'm not aware of, shouldn't this mean that my city imposing a tax for cell phone services on me is illegal under federal law?
I hate all anonymous shitbags. Log in, you filthy bastards.
An internet tax hurts the dominant players in the communications industry because it makes overall prices higher, making people more likely to switch provider to a lower cost provider. Verizon alone has spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying Congress, so Congress votes in their favor.
See, e.g., https://www.opensecrets.org/or...
and want us to die.
The article summary is very misleading -- it reads like sales tax on Internet purchases has been banned, which is not the case. This law deals with the taxation of Internet access.
Wuh? Your non-nonsensical remark was so non-nonsensically nice you had to say it twice.
raise prices.
You and the new management team seem to be doing right by the community so far. Article quality has improved on Slashdot, and you guys announced the end of that stupid affiliate program that SourceForge had.
I clicked on the link to this Slashdot story after seeing the title in my RSS feed. Since I was already familiar with the bill, I waited for the tab to load thinking "I bet Slashdot is going to be all gung ho for sales taxes on e-commerce purchases, despite the fact that the bill deals with something else entirely." Obviously, the Slashdot community didn't disappoint.
When there's stories like this where there's an OBVIOUS confusion opportunity, it would be helpful if you guys could put the clarification in the story's TITLE. It's ALWAYS been a part of Slashdot culture to not read the article, and the amount of people who read the summary has been in steady decline for a while. That's an easy fix that would make Slashdot better, and "Making Slashdot better" seems like it's a goal of your team.
Thanks for listening.
So broadband universal service will be subsidized by landline and cell users.
RTFS is the new RTFA.
What the fuck does reading the title have to do with anything?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Yeah, right...except there is, just called another name. The pipe into my home is taxed, heavily, by multiple agencies, because they all supply a needed service...and think of the children. Like the mob, except without cool accents.
Chicago introduced a tax last summer on streaming and cloud-based services.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/7...