B
Baphomet
Guest
N.Y. Times
November 8, 2003
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The Senate postponed a vote on banning Internet access
taxes yesterday after sponsors agreed to extend the
prohibition without making it permanent.
The Senate deadlocked on whether high-speed digital
subscriber line, or D.S.L., services should be exempt from
taxes and how long a ban that expired on Nov. 1 should be
extended. With a series of temporary measures since 1998,
federal law has blocked state and local taxes on Internet
connections provided by companies like America Online and
EarthLink.
"We're not going to get a vote on it,'' said Senator George
Allen, Republican of Virginia and a sponsor of a measure to
replace a lapsed temporary prohibition with a permanent
one.
A temporary extension of the ban would put the Senate at
odds with the White House, which wants a permanent
prohibition on Internet access taxes, and the House of
Representatives, which has approved a ban. The old ban will
remain lapsed until those differences can be reconciled,
and that may encourage states, which are facing the worst
collective budget squeeze since World War II, to approve
new taxes.
"We're very concerned about next January when the
legislatures gear back up,'' said Senator Ron Wyden,
Democrat of Oregon and a co-sponsor of the bill. Mr. Wyden
and Mr. Allen said they would accept a temporary extension
of the ban if opponents agreed to restrictions on new taxes
on Internet services like D.S.L., cable, and wireless
products like hand-held BlackBerry devices.
Opponents of the ban say states are entitled to tax those
products. States will lose $4 billion to $9 billion in
revenue by 2006 if the ban covers other technologies,
according to the Multistate Tax Commission.
Opponents of a permanent ban on Internet access taxes say
the medium has matured and should not be shielded from tax.
They also say the federal government should not tell states
and local governments how to raise revenue from Internet
services.
"I agree that it is valuable, but it is not an infant,''
said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. "It
is a pretty big boy. It is out there in the world. We know
what it is and it should stand on its own now.''
He compared the Internet to the telephone and television,
two other "magnificent inventions'' that do not escape
taxes.
November 8, 2003
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The Senate postponed a vote on banning Internet access
taxes yesterday after sponsors agreed to extend the
prohibition without making it permanent.
The Senate deadlocked on whether high-speed digital
subscriber line, or D.S.L., services should be exempt from
taxes and how long a ban that expired on Nov. 1 should be
extended. With a series of temporary measures since 1998,
federal law has blocked state and local taxes on Internet
connections provided by companies like America Online and
EarthLink.
"We're not going to get a vote on it,'' said Senator George
Allen, Republican of Virginia and a sponsor of a measure to
replace a lapsed temporary prohibition with a permanent
one.
A temporary extension of the ban would put the Senate at
odds with the White House, which wants a permanent
prohibition on Internet access taxes, and the House of
Representatives, which has approved a ban. The old ban will
remain lapsed until those differences can be reconciled,
and that may encourage states, which are facing the worst
collective budget squeeze since World War II, to approve
new taxes.
"We're very concerned about next January when the
legislatures gear back up,'' said Senator Ron Wyden,
Democrat of Oregon and a co-sponsor of the bill. Mr. Wyden
and Mr. Allen said they would accept a temporary extension
of the ban if opponents agreed to restrictions on new taxes
on Internet services like D.S.L., cable, and wireless
products like hand-held BlackBerry devices.
Opponents of the ban say states are entitled to tax those
products. States will lose $4 billion to $9 billion in
revenue by 2006 if the ban covers other technologies,
according to the Multistate Tax Commission.
Opponents of a permanent ban on Internet access taxes say
the medium has matured and should not be shielded from tax.
They also say the federal government should not tell states
and local governments how to raise revenue from Internet
services.
"I agree that it is valuable, but it is not an infant,''
said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. "It
is a pretty big boy. It is out there in the world. We know
what it is and it should stand on its own now.''
He compared the Internet to the telephone and television,
two other "magnificent inventions'' that do not escape
taxes.
