The Internet Tax ... Again
Submitted by rescueus on Sat, 09/08/2007 - 00:44.
Here we go again
the Email Tax is back!
Dear Dave,
Hands off the internet has long been a Ron Paul position. This morning I received an email from Dick Armey's Freedomworks organization warning that the email tax proposals are alive and well.
Note Ron Paul IS a sponsor of House Resolution HR 743 mentioned below. HR743 would amend 47 U.S.C. 151 by elimating the existing sunset provision as follows.
SEC.
1101. MORATORIUM.
“(a) Moratorium.—No State or political
subdivision thereof may impose any of the following taxesduring the period beginning November 1, 2003, and ending November 1, 2007:“(1) Taxes on Internet access.“(2) Multiple or discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce.
CLICK THE "TAKE ACTION" LINK BELOW
Dear Dave,
While taxes may be
one of life’s certainties, the internet has, so far, miraculously
managed to escape the clutches of revenue-hungry government tax
collectors. That may change if Congress doesn’t get its act together –
and fast.
Back in 1998, Congress passed the Internet Tax
Freedom Act, imposing a three-year moratorium on state and local taxes
on internet access. The moratorium came just as some local governments
began to extend their very high telecommunications taxes to accessing
the net. The goal was simple: encourage the spread of this important
new technology by preventing government from strangling it in its crib
with high taxes.
Since then Congress has passed multiple extensions
of the internet tax moratorium, the latest of which expires this
November. This time around, Congress should make the ban on internet
taxes permanent. Two bills, S. 156 in the Senate and H.R. 743 in the
House, would do just that, but movement thus far has been stagnant and
the clock is ticking.
State and local access fees could add 20 percent to
25 percent to the average internet consumer’s bill – a tax hike of
about $150 per year. That may not sound like much in Washington, D.C.,
but it could strand millions of low-income Americans on the wrong side
of the digital divide. And higher internet charges could hinder small
business from gaining access to the technology they need to compete
with larger companies. Schools, libraries, and other educational and
research institutions with limited budgets would also take a hit.
Supporters of new internet taxes make the case that Congress’ “Hands
Off the Internet” strategy has served its purpose. The internet is no
longer an infant technology, they say. After all, internet use in the
United States has soared from about 36 percent of the population at the
end of 1998 to over 70 percent today.
But in the warp-speed world of the internet, that’s yesterday’s news.
America still lags far behind our economic competitors when it comes to
wiring homes and businesses with high-speed internet access or
broadband. Even though the internet was invented by our own Al Gore,
America still ranks 16th in the world in terms of broadband deployment,
behind countries like South Korea and Japan.
Widespread broadband deployment is the key to unleashing a new round of
internet-driven gains in productivity and entrepreneurial activity.
Respected economists estimate that 1.2 million new jobs would be
generated by the broadband build-out, enough growth to generate more in
taxes than states and localities hope to raise by taxing your e-mail.
So why not just extend the moratorium for another two years or so?
Because making broadband available on a near-universal basis will
require billions in private investment by technology companies willing
to build next generation networks like fiber-to-the-home. And companies
are hesitant to put that capital at risk as long as the taxman keeps
lurking right around the corner, always threatening to milk consumers
and potentially destroy a good portion of the mass market for
broadband.
Members of Congress have a choice to make. They can give the green
light to state and local governments to saddle internet users with
myriad new taxes and fees. Or they can lock the tax man away
permanently and throw away the key. That should be a pretty easy call.
Contact your U.S. Representative and Senators and let them know how you feel about taxes on your email.
Sincerely,
Dick Armey
Chairman
FreedomWorks.org
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The Internet must be kept
The Internet must be kept free. In the backstory to the forthcoming movie Nightmare City 2035 the Internet "crashed". Nobody knew what happened. Suddenly, there was tyranny. The Internet protects our freedom and to do that it must be free.
"Nightmare City 2035" is
"Nightmare City 2035" is clearly prescient. Anarchists and terrorists would like nothing better than the sudden demise of the Internet. I've seen its railer on YouTube. Where is the movie?
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