Taxes may be added to US internet users!

[iNeb]

The End of the Internet as You Know it
The House has passed the Internet Tax Moratorium extension, and the responsible Senate committee has passed it to the floor, but Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Maria Cantwell of Washington and two other senators are blocking the vote.

If the Senate doesn’t immediately hold a vote, on midnight, November 1st, the moratorium will automatically expire and Katy bar the tax man’s door! Everything from email tax to multiple state sales taxes will be available to the big spenders. (If your message starts in Oregon and is routed through Texas on the way to Ohio, Texas will be able to tax it!) Some of these new taxes, like the server tax, won’t even require legislation because they fall under the regulatory control of the FCC, and possibly the ICC, as well.

Bureaucrats will be able to drop them right in your phone bill! Or your server bill!

If you just sit there and do nothing, it’s going to happen. Contact your federal senators no later than Thursday so a senate vote can take place on Friday, at the latest. Otherwise, on Saturday night the deed will be automatically done.

It will mean the end of the internet as you know it.

Battle Brews Over Expiration of Internet Tax Moratorium
By Christine Hall
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
October 29, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - Accessing the Internet may cost something extra after November 1, the date a federally imposed tax moratorium expires.

The five-year moratorium has prevented states and localities from levying taxes on Internet dial-up or broadband connections.

While the House in September passed a bill to continue the ban, if the Senate fails to act on a bill (S. 150) authored by Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), new Internet taxes could go into effect between the time Congress adjourns (likely in November) and returns in January.

Sen. Ron Wyde (D-Ore.), one of the principal proponents of the moritorium, has accused some state and local officials of trying to change the definition of "Internet access" in order to find new ways to tax.

"In doing so, what it would do is give States and localities explicit permission to tax what Internet users do once they get on line," Wyden said in an October 15 floor speech.

"That would mean you could have games, music, magazines, newspapers, information services, financial services, r esearch services, or other products of services, in effect, facing a barrage of new taxes," Wyden argued.

"The phrase 'you've got mail' would be replaced with 'you owe taxes,'" Wyden quipped.

Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Maria [not Marie] Cantwell (D-Wash.), among others, have placed a procedural "hold" on the Senate bill amid concerns over state budget deficits.

Alexander on Friday called the no-tax plan sponsored by Democrat Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Republican George Allen (Va.) the "worst kind of unfunded mandate."

"If you limit Tennessee's ability to have a broad-based sales tax, then you are increasing the chances Tennessee has an income tax or a higher tax on medicine or food. Or higher college tuition for families to pay," Alexander explained.

Taxpayer groups like Americans for Tax Reform are fighting for t he moritorium to be continued.

ATR President Grover Norquist said Internet taxes would hurt consumers. He contends that backers of the hold are "supporting taxes on Internet access and e-mail, as well as double-taxation of a product or service bought over the Internet."

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) is insisting on changes to the moratorium. The state of Ohio stands to lose a lot of existing tax revenue from phone taxes, Voinovich believes, unless the bill's language is clarified. The problem stems from an overly broad definition of telecommunications services that could encompass future Internet-based telephone services, Voinovich fears.

Ohio Republican Gov. Bob Taft wrote Voinovich a letter estimating that extending the moratorium would cost the state $350 million, but such cost estimates vary.

Nationwide, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that extending and expanding the moratorium will deprive states of $80 to $120 million in taxes annually. But the Multistate Tax Commission has said states are likely to forego between $4 billion and $9 billion in 2006 alone.

John Berthoud of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) says it's just politicians looking to tax thei r way out of a problem. "The bottom line is that these guys just want more money," Berthoud said.

"Internet use is already taxed through the burdens that states and localities impose on phone and cable bills," added the NTU's Paul Gessing. Congre ss shouldn't allow new Internet access taxes or multiple-state taxation of a single item purchased online, Gessing believes, because "it amounts to double jeopardy."

[UpYourz]

You just have to post it don't you...Ok who will join me in a team of Interent freeks to take them down?

[Starfury_2260]

didn't that get stopped?

[Starfury_2260]

well it appears that the ban on net tax may be stopped. if it doesn't get reinstated.

[miriam]

My taxes are high as it is on my property. Now I have to worry on web taxes. I also read an article that said anything one purchases online is taxable now.