Aplus.net Blog

From today’s Washington Post:

The House approved a bill yesterday to bar states from taxing Internet access through 2014, clearing the way for President Bush to sign the measure into law before the current ban expires tomorrow.

The unanimous vote resolved a conflict with the Senate, which last week called for the longest-ever Internet-tax ban by passing the seven-year ban. The House had voted Oct. 16 to prohibit the taxes for four years.

… House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Bush to sign the bill immediately.

If signed by President Bush and passed into law, this bill will extend the existing federal law (enacted in 1998) that bans cities and states from taxing most Internet activity.

There are huge implications to this. For starters, it means that online shopping, which has become an extremely important part of the American economy and a huge convenience to many Americans’ lives, can continue to grow without being restricted by taxes.

However, it also means that government will get less and less tax revenue. That’s potentially a very bad omen, since the government will have to find that money elsewhere — no doubt, in the form of other kinds of taxes. (Which perhaps explains the political stances being taken: In general, Republicans favor taxing Internet commerce, whereas Democrats are in favor of keeping it tax-free.)

The legislation doesn’t apply to every facet of the Internet and “would allow states and cities to continue taxing all forms of telephone and pay-television service, even if carriers bundle those services with Internet access.”

Read the original article here.