Posted on 06/05/2007 12:07:06 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
Dear Representative [Senator]:
The Internet has been a remarkable engine of economic growth and innovation over the past decade, in large part because it has operated as a free market without undue taxes or regulation. With the existing Internet tax moratorium set to expire in November, we urge you on behalf of our members to support extending the moratorium into a permanent ban.
The current ban prohibits taxes on Internet access, including broadband as well as dialup connections. It also prohibits discriminatory taxes that treat Internet transactions different from other transactions, as well as duplicate taxes. The ban is not a special exemption for Internet-based companies, who remain subject to broad-based taxes.
If the moratorium is allowed to expire on November 1, 2007, states will likely impose new taxes on Internet access fees, as well as bit-taxes on downloads, and perhaps even email taxes. There would be unlimited potential for taxation that would impede the flow of commerce and information on the Internet and shut down a great engine of economic growth.
The moratorium has kept consumers’ Internet bills uncluttered by the myriad taxes and fees that they are forced to pay on their phone and cable bills, for instance. It is hard to argue with the clear policy success of the moratorium. Another temporary extension will leave open the possibility of such counterproductive taxes being imposed in the future. The moratorium should therefore be extended into a permanent ban that will protect Internet users from unnecessary taxation and create a more predictable policy environment.
Sincerely,
Tim Phillips
President
Americans for Prosperity
Jeffrey Mazzella
President
Center for Individual Freedom
Jason Wright
President
Institute for Liberty
Tom Schatz
President
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
Pat Toomey
President
The Club for Growth
David Keene
Chairman
American Conservative Union
Paul M. Weyrich
National Chairman
Coalitions for America
Mark Chmura
Executive Director
Americans for the Preservation of Liberty
Matthew J. Brouillette
President and CEO
Commonwealth Foundation
Mark Chmura
Executive Director
Americans for the Preservation of Liberty
Ryan Ellis
Executive Director
American Shareholders Association
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
President
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Andrew F. Quinlan
President
Center for Freedom and Prosperity
John McClaughry
President
Ethan Allen Institute
Tom McClusky
Vice President of Government Affairs
Family Research Council
Lew Uhler
President
The National Tax Limitation Committee
Tom Kilgannon
President
Freedom Alliance
Kristina Rasmussen
Director of Government Affairs
National Taxpayers Union
Richard O. Rowland
President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Jim Martin
President
60 Plus Association
Tom Hoefling
Chairman
Idahoans for Tax Reform
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO
SBE Council
Dr. Don Racheter
Moderator
Iowa Wednesday Group
Phil Krinkie
President
Taxpayers League of Minnesota
Richard Falknor
Executive Vice-President
Maryland Taxpayers Association, Inc.
Rick Durham
President
Tennessee Tax Revolt
Derek Hunter
Executive Director
Media Freedom Project
Amy Ridenour
President
National Center for Public Policy Research
Many thanks to Americans for Prosperity and AFP Foundation!
No doubt about it!
I don't want to give our government any excuse to raise taxes or find new ways of taxing us.
At the same time, I see no reason why an item I purchase on-line should not be taxed while an item purchased in a local store should be taxed.
I know that in reality, both are supposed to be taxed, but in practicality a tax that can't be collected really isn't a tax.
While I feel strongly that we would be better off with less taxes rather than more, I also think the taxes we are forced to endure should be fair, and the current system is very unfair to local, brick and mortar stores.
What I would like to see is something like the fair tax, but it would seem that going to the fair tax would mean ending the moratorium on having Internet vendors collect taxes.
I don't want our government adding new taxes without removing or lessening others, but I also don't see why new technologies should be unburdened by taxes while other technologies are taxed heavily with distorts the market.
Why are conventional phone companies saddled with the burden of a variety of taxes when providing phone service, but companies providing phone service over the Internet are not?
The best solution would of course be to get rid of all the taxes on phone service since it is a reasonably essential service. Instead our government uses it as another wealth redistribution system by taxing the crap out of it and then subsidizing phone service for the poor.
Calling for a permanent ban on Internet taxes is putting a bandaid on a tax system that needs to be euthanized and replaced.
I too support the FairTax. Have for many years. Its implementation is the only thing that could move me off my position that there should be a moratorium on Internet taxes.
An online store has only a virtual presence. There is no real estate to tax, no roads leading to it to maintain, no police to direct traffic during blowout sales, no Fire Department calls, no dumpster full of trash out back, no crowds, no shoplifting, no armed robberies or any of the other Community expenses. The "Store" is maintained and supported with After-Tax income. We Already Gave.
Local stores, including mine will always have local support from me because of personal service and customer loyalty. But my Saturday Errands mornings do have value. There are plenty of taxes already collected in internet sales-it is just that they are hidden. UPS pays salaries and taxes and pays fuel taxes, etc, to deliver the purchases. Businesses with an in-state physical presence already do collect Sales Taxes (or say they do.). These businesses file quarterly and annually just like every other business and are just as generous at throwing away money to the Government.
The only people squealing and lobbying for internet taxes are merchants who are frightened of open-price shopping. Rather than drive from store to store shopping for price I can do it instantly. They HATE that.
Sales taxes are collected by retailers for almost ALL online sales, with the only exceptions being catalog stores that are located in a no sales tax state and do not have any store locations in states with sales tax. The scenario you describe has nothing to do with the internet tax moratorium.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti illegal immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them. This is a bipartisan issue not a Conservative or Liberal issue BUT AN AMERICAN issue.
We appreciate your concern, but this is not an illegal immigration amnesty thread.
Which means it effectively costs me more to patronize a on-line store in my own state.
I'm not arguing that no taxes are being collected. I'm arguing that the taxes that are being collected unfairly biased against local retailers, even on-line retailers local to the state.
We end up shipping stuff across the country, which helps drive up fuel costs, because the shipping costs are lower than the sales taxes.
Large on-line retailers end up carefully selecting where to put distribution centers, not based on the shortest distance to ship things, or the most efficient way to get things to customers, but based on how they can avoid an in state presence for the greatest number of their customers.
OOPS! sorry about that, meant to just bump it.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
That’s okay. I’m VERY happy to have that message on this thread. :-)
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
I appreciate that, because I am from Massachusetts, and even my generosity has its limits. As it is, I pay local taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, punishment taxes, phone taxes and other "temporary" WWII taxes, and $4000 a year for what is considered a starter hovel in Today's RE market. That's OK, though, because it is for the children and the Teachers' Unions.
If once in a while, just once on an ocassional online purchase, I am not taxed, Society will not collapse. At least we are getting some value from the shipping charges, because UPS et al pay their employees, who spend the money back into the system. In my state, where does the money go, and what good does it do? It just gets thrown down a hole in the ground of one kind or another.
Imagine the state tax collectors awakening at night with sweats and terrors at the thought that somewhere at that very moment, someone might be avoiding a nickel's worth of tax!
Local retailers who runs their businesses right and who know how to take care of their customers should have no fear. I suspect the real squealing is coming from the marginal businesses who may not deserve to be in Retail, and whose customers would flee _anywhere_, if they had a chance. Neighborhood stores with bad attitudes and high prices do not deserve protection, if they have been coasting along on a captive market all this time.
That’s ok. I thought maybe you had just accidentally posted to the wrong thread. I’ve done that before...
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