Do You Want the Taxman to Get His Grasping Hands on Your Internet?

Tomorrow could be an important day if you care about keeping the internet free from the kinds of tax barriers that have made other sectors of the economy sluggish.

The internet now offers unparalleled opportunities to fledgling entrepreneurs, innovative educators, and indeed to all of us who now regard it as our fist mode of communication.

Do you believe this freedom should be constricted and trampled upon? If not, you will want to be aware of that is happening in Congress tomorrow.  

The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up debate on the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, which is sponsored by Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte.  It would prevent the taxman from grabbing the internet and choking it the way other sectors of the economy are.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act in the 1990s ensured that the internet would have the freedom to develop and provide opportunities. It did this by banning internet taxes that would inevitably be destructive by imposing financial impediments to internet use.

Unfortunately, this expires in November, and, if Congress doesn’t act, we will see the kinds of tax barriers to activity that stifle the rest of the economy introduced into the internet world. In a nutshell, using the internet will cost more.

Know how your telephone service always advertises one price but your bill is always significantly more? Internet service would become the same way, if we allow state authorities to latch onto the internet as a source of revenue. In explaining what could happen with the internet, Rep. Goodlatte wrote:

Few people study their telephone and Internet bills closely, but it might be worth taking a second glance next month. Take a close look at your next phone bill, and at the bottom you will see a laundry list of access taxes. But if you look at your Internet service provider’s bill, those access taxes will be missing. Wouldn’t you like to keep it that way?

It’s nice for us as individuals not to have the added costs but it is also a boon to economic growth through internet businesses.

Here is a concise explanation of the issue.