Internet taxation is on the way!

[Sense Hofstede]

On 6 April 2010 05:49, Fred A. Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com> wrote:
> The Washington Times
> Internet taxation is on the way!
> Just the latest Obama administration power grab
> By Timothy H. Lee
>
> The Obama Era has become a protracted, nightmarish Whack-A-Mole game of tax
> increases and bureaucratic self-enlargement. In sector after sector of
> American life, another scheme to expand government and wrench more earnings
> from Americans' pockets pops up.
>
> Its next targeted sector? The Internet.
>
> Take a look at the following introduction of a nationwide tax upon Internet
> goods and services, inserted within page 58 of the Federal Communications
> Commission's (FCC) National Broadband Plan released this week:
>
> Digital Goods and Services Taxation
>
> RECOMMENDATION 4.20: The federal government should investigate establishing
> a national framework for digital goods and services taxation.
>
> The National Broadband Plan is focused on increasing beneficial use of the
> Internet, including e-commerce and new innovative business models. The
> current patchwork of state and local laws and regulations relating to
> taxation of digital goods and services (such as ringtones, digital music,
> etc.) may hinder new investment and business models. Entrepreneurs and
> small businesses in particular may lack the resources to understand and
> comply with the various tax regimes.
>
> Recognizing that state and local governments pursue varying approaches to
> raising tax revenues, a national framework for digital goods and services
> taxation would reduce uncertainty and remove one barrier to online
> entrepreneurship and investment.
>
> Ponder that curious logic for a moment.
>
> Americans already suffering from a recession prolonged by Mr. Obama's
> policies are being asked to concur that raising - yes, raising - taxes on a
> nationwide basis will somehow "reduce uncertainty and remove one barrier to
> online entrepreneurship and investment."
>
> Consider also that section's observation that "entrepreneurs and small
> businesses in particular may lack the resources to understand and comply
> with the various tax regimes."As if federal tax laws are straightforward?
> Anyone who has asked two separate tax attorneys to ascertain a provision
> from the Internal Revenue Code and received seven different indecipherable
> answers can immediately recognize the absurdity of suggesting that
> federalizing Internet taxes would somehow "reduce uncertainty" and
> facilitate understanding and compliance.
>
> In just fourteen months, political discourse during Mr. Obama's tenure has
> pioneered new depths in Orwellian Newspeak - think of "jobs saved or
> created," for instance - but this is remarkable even by those standards.
>
> The FCC's National Broadband Plan contains other tax-increase proposals,
> unfortunately. It states that we "should broaden the universal service
> contribution base," which refers to the tax upon telecommunications service
> providers created by the FCC in 1997.
>
> Just what the Internet sector needs - a new tax upon Internet-service
> providers whose yearly investments in network expansion are necessary to
> keep pace with exploding Internet data traffic.
>
> These tax proposals in the National Broadband Plan come just as the FCC
> continues to push so-called "Net Neutrality" regulations for the Internet.
>
> "Net Neutrality," which in fact constitutes Net regulation, would prohibit
> service providers from differentiating distinct forms of Internet data. And
> why is this important? Because with booming Internet use consuming
> ever-greater amounts of scarce network capacity, service providers must be
> free to test innovative methods to prioritize data to prevent gridlock.For
> instance, emergency medical data could be prioritized over routine
> recreational video downloads.But Net Neutrality would stifle that sort of
> experimentation and innovation.
>
> The result of "Net Neutrality" would be fewer incentives for
> Internet-service providers to continue investing in infrastructure
> expansion, which would in turn degrade Internet quality as ever-increasing
> traffic overwhelms existing capacity. The Internet has flourished like few
> technologies in human history precisely because its innovators and service
> pro-viders have remained free of regulatory suffocation."Net Neutrality,"
> however, and now proposed taxation of Internet goods and services would
> jeopardize that.
>
> The nation's attention understandably remains focused upon the yearlong
> fiasco that is ObamaCare. Nevertheless, the FCC's agenda recalls Ronald
> Reagan's portrayal of government logic: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps
> moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it."
>
> As concerns the Internet, the Obama administration is at the tax and
> regulation stage. Should it succeed in imposing Internet taxes and "Net
> Neutrality," however, it's only a matter of time until we would reach the
> failure and subsidy stage for yet another sector of our economy.
>
> Timothy H. Lee is vice president of legal and public affairs for the Center
> for Individual Freedom.
>
> --
> A REVOLUTIONARY IDEA! 'Time to put Nana Pelosi in a home!'
>
>
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I never cease to be amazed by the amount of ignorance and lack of
sound reasoning the Republicans show each time they open their mouth.
It's a shame they share their name with anti-monarchists because
they're a disgrace to us, republicans.

Regards,
-- 
Sense Hofstede
[ˈsɛn.sə ˈɦɔf.steːdə]