[MetalMan]

I traced the route to www.freerepublic.com. Along the way it hits:

2 servers in Minnesota
4 servers in Illinois
5 servers in California

Then freerepublic.

If Minnesota, Illinios, and California decide to tax the internet, I'm likely to see 11 different tax charges on my phone bill each time I post to freerepubilc.com. Taxing the internet a fair tax? No way.

[Frankie Brown]

First, the ITFA doesn't prevent any state from taxing any payment you make to Free Republic; the ITFA prevents taxes on Internet access and certain (already constitutionally impermissible) discriminatory taxes. Second, since Free Republic is a free information service, no transactional tax issues involving a tax (e.g., sales tax, gross receipts tax) on use ever arise. Third, any state that has sufficient tax nexus over both Free Republic and the transaction the state seeks to tax (i.e., your use of Free Republic) could tax the transaction EVEN IF THE ITFA WERE IN EFFECT. Although I don't know where you are, the states that you mention (CA, IL, MN) COULD NOT CONSTITUTIONALLY tax the trasnsaction if the only connection for you or Free Republic to the state was the presence of a Free Republic server or telecom switch (see the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Goldberg v. Sweet and Jefferson Lines). Basic point: the ITFA doesn't really do much, whether enacted or expired.

[Frankie Brown]

First, the ITFA doesn't prevent any state from taxing any payment you make to Free Republic; the ITFA prevents taxes on Internet access and certain (already constitutionally impermissible) discriminatory taxes. Second, since Free Republic is a free information service, no transactional tax issues involving a tax (e.g., sales tax, gross receipts tax) on use ever arise. Third, any state that has sufficient tax nexus over both Free Republic and the transaction the state seeks to tax (i.e., your use of Free Republic) could tax the transaction EVEN IF THE ITFA WERE IN EFFECT. Although I don't know where you are, the states that you mention (CA, IL, MN) COULD NOT CONSTITUTIONALLY tax the trasnsaction if the only connection for you or Free Republic to the state was the presence of a Free Republic server or telecom switch (see the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Goldberg v. Sweet and Jefferson Lines). Basic point: the ITFA doesn't really do much, whether enacted or expired.