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Records from online vendors will help the state target buyers who didn't pay levy. California consumers and retailers who thought they had dodged sales and excise taxes when they bought cigarettes from out-of-state Internet and mail-order vendors are about to get smoked out. As part of a sweeping effort to crack down on such purchases, the state Board of Equalization has obtained 450,000 invoices from out-of-state Internet tobacco sellers showing untaxed sales to California residents over the past three years. It also has secured another 65,000 shipping records showing deliveries of 250,000 packages of untaxed cigarettes to Golden State residents...

TRENTON, N.J. -- The budget dispute that closed New Jersey's government and threatens to shutter Atlantic City casinos centers on the governor's plan to increase the state sales tax. He says a 1-cent increase will earn New Jersey $1.1 billion. Lawmakers, fearing a voter backlash, either don't want to raise taxes, or want to use some of the revenue for other spending. But more than half of the money Gov. Jon S. Corzine wants to raise by increasing the tax is already owed to the state. And no one is collecting it. State estimates show New Jersey loses about $600...

A closed-door meeting of left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was held on January 16, 2003, in Washington, D.C. to consider how to apply international financial pressure through a global tax on the U.S. Bruno Jetin, a representative of ATTAC France, spoke to the gathering and acknowledged in private conversation that his group works hand-in-glove with the French Communist Party and the "Socialist parties on the Left." A representative of the embassy of France in the U.S. was listed as a participant. ATTAC stands for the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens. The International ATTAC Movement...

Sovereignty or subjugation: Tacking on an international tax By Paul M. Weyrich The United States government is sovereignty. Thus, we Americans legislate, administer and adjudicate our own laws. Challenges to our sovereignty are emanating from the United Nations, the bureaucrats of which are interested in promoting a transfer of income and resources from the Developed World to the Third World. Difficult as it may be for Americans to imagine, unless our politicians have the courage to defend our national sovereignty, we may be shelling out tax money to satiate Big Blue's voracious appetite for revenue. Imagine paying an "international" tax...

If you are a smoker you remember too well when Governor Granholm pushed to raise the state’s tax on tobacco products from a $1.25 to $2.00. This increase forced many smokers to find alternatives. Some people quit, some people cut back, or found a cheaper place to buy. For many smokers they turned to the online vendor to purchase their tobacco products. It’s cheaper and best of all they don’t have to pay the $2.00 per pack sales tax. The luxury the internet shopper enjoys is the convenience of shopping at home. Products are less expensive and they think that...

FROM MONORAIL TAX TO STEALTH INTERNET TAX –COMING SOONFeb 03, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.comby staff reportsIn King’s County, Washington, residents are discovering that a monorail tax may drag on for another 15 years. And in Washington DC, congressional committee studying tax reform, the Joint Committee on Taxation, announced it was considering expanding the three percent tax on telecommunications to cover all data communications services to end users, including cell phones, broadband, dial-up, cable modems, and DSL links. Taxes never die – nor does it seem in the United States these days that they ever get much smaller. Like a virus, taxes...

http://www.news.com/ Congress proposes tax on all Net, data connections By Declan McCullagh http://news.com.com/Congress+proposes+tax+on+all+Net%2C+data+connections/2100-1028_3-5555385.html Story last modified Fri Jan 28 15:50:00 PST 2005 An influential congressional committee has dropped a political bombshell by suggesting that a tax originally created to pay for the Spanish American War could be extended to all Internet and data connections this year. The committee, deeply involved in writing U.S. tax laws, unexpectedly said in a report Thursday that the 3 percent telecommunications tax could be revised to cover "all data communications services to end users," including broadband; dial-up; fiber; cable modems; cellular; and DSL, or digital...

Much of the Washington press corps was preoccupied last week with the White House economic proposals, which are about allowing people to keep more of their money. Meanwhile, the National Governors Association was across town hosting a separate gathering that focused on just the opposite. The NGA -- along with its buddies at the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National League of Counties, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors -- desperately wants to tax Internet use. And they're hoping that Internet phone calls... will pave the way. You're forgiven if you thought this was...

By Gene J. Koprowski UPI Science News Published 12/1/2004 10:08 AM CHICAGO, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- President Bush is expected to sign the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act soon, which will ban federal and state tariffs on almost all online connections -- from dial-up to broadband -- for the next four years. Technology and legal experts told UPI's The Web that the bill, while important, far from settles the government's Internet policy."This foreshadows a more important debate," said Adam Thierer, director of telecommunications studies at the Cato Institute, a free market think tank in Washington D.C. -- The Web is a...

CONGRESS MUST GET US OUT OF U.N.E.S.C.O., AGAIN!       By Tom DeWeese August 17, 2004   The nation laid Ronald Reagan to rest with a massive outpouring of respect and affection for the accomplishments of this great man. One of his most important achievements was to get the United States out of the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Yet it was just one year ago that Congress voted to undo President Reagan's work and authorized the nation to begin again to pay dues of $60 million annually to this corrupt organization. That's an incredible 25%...

<p>Over the past few weeks, every e-commerce entrepreneur and Internet innovator has been breathlessly watching the congressional debate on whether we should lift the moratorium on Internet sales taxes.</p> <p>Asking this question now is like asking Mrs. Lincoln about the play. To tax or not to tax will never be an appropriate question, simply because the net gains in tax collections (albeit in the billions) will never be greater than the cost to e-commerce entrepreneurship and innovation and the jobs and wealth produced through their efforts.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. senator said on Thursday that he would hold up a massive year-end spending bill if it included a ban on Internet-access taxes that he and several colleagues fear would harm state and local finances. Delaware Sen. Thomas Carper, a Democrat, told reporters he would try to keep the omnibus bill from coming to the Senate floor if the ban was included in its present form, which he said infringed on the rights of state and local governments to raise revenues. "If we end up with just an awful ... provision I would certainly object to...

Action Alert Tell the Senate to Pass the Internet Tax Moratorium. Stop the Effort to Tax Your DSL, Cable Modem, or Dial-up Access America depends on the Internet for communication and economic growth. That's why the Senate is ready to pass legislation (S. 150) that would permanently prevent state and local governments from taxing your Internet access. Unfortunately, some big spending Senators want to end the current moratorium, which expired on November 1, 2003. If the ban ends, greedy state and local governments will be able to put another hand in your pockets! Your Message This system requires that you...

Listening to Rush's guest host today discuss with CA. Congressman Christopher Cox explain the bill that bans internet Taxation which expires on November 1st and is being held up for a vote in the Senate by 4 Senators 2) Democrats and 2) republicans.< The democrat Senators who put the hold on the vote were from North Dakota and Washington (Conrad and Cantwell) and the Republican senator I remember was from Tennessee (not Frist, but the other one)...> If this bill isn't reinstated by November 1, 2003, according to Rep. Cox, it opens the door for Taxation on any and all...

Support Making the Internet Tax Moratorium Permanent! Some Senators want states to tax your internet! The Senate is poised to pass historic taxpayer protection legislation this week. S. 150, the Internet Non-Discrimination Act will permanently extend the current Internet access tax moratorium. Unfortunately, the bill is being held up by a few misguided Senators. While opponents of the permanent Internet tax moratorium claim that the bill imposes significant costs on the states, the true agenda is to tax the Internet. Passage of the Internet Non-Discrimination act represents an important first step in keeping the Internet tax-free. If these Senators are...

WASHINGTON -- The Internet industry, state officials and consumers are watching closely as Congress considers two bills that could generate billions of dollars in taxes on online activity.At the end of this month, a moratorium on Internet-access taxes will expire, but Congress still hasn't decided whether to extend the ban, make it permanent or let it die.Congress also has not acted on a separate bill that would help clear the way for states to collect sales taxes on purchases made online or by phone.Many states, facing huge budget shortfalls, are hoping Congress will let the access-tax moratorium die and help...

Owens to testify in Congress against proposed national system Despite the state budget crisis, Gov. Bill Owens will testify Wednesday in Congress against a bill that would let states collect billions in new Internet sales taxes. The legislation, introduced last week by Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., would allow states to implement a unified taxation system for collecting taxes on sales by Internet, phone or catalog. Owens, who will testify before the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, has expressed his opposition to Internet taxes for years. But the pressure to impose them has built nationally...

ORLANDO -- A new rule now being formulated in Tallahassee could lead to a state tax of 9 percent -- or higher -- on computer networks commonly used in businesses. "The standard response is on the border between surprise and outrage," says Arthur Simon, senior vice president of big-business lobby Associated Industries of Florida. The proposal has its roots in a legislative directive handed down two years ago. It aimed to modernize how the state taxes communications. "Most of Florida communications case law stems from the rotary dial era," says David Bruns, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue. Reforms...

<p>The state Senate voted Thursday to force online retailers, such as barnesandnoble.com and Dell Computer, to charge sales tax to their California customers.</p> <p>The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, is somewhat broader than a similar bill Gov. Gray Davis vetoed three years ago but said he would reconsider as the Internet matured.</p>