Comments on: House OKs four-year extension of Net tax ban

Legislators vote overwhelmingly to keep Internet connections tax-free for a finite timespan. But Republicans leaders say Democrats neglected the chance to make the tax ban permanent.

[DarkHawke]

A good first step.

Nice to see something positive and helpful for the American people coming out of the House these days. And an anti-tax measure to boot! I have no hopes of a Democrat Congress passing a permanent ban, but it does need to happen ASAP. Either that, or be fair and make EVERY interstate transaction, whether by mail or phone order, subject to the [i]exact same taxes[/i]. If it's fair to destroy interstate commerce by making merchants figure, collect and remit the correct local and/or state sales taxes for every city, county and state in the country, then the medium with which one conducts that commerce shouldn't matter. BTW, good luck getting U.S. taxes remitted from foreign countries, which is where what internet commerce that wouldn't just die off entirely will go.

[GuardBoy98]

re: A good first step.

DarkHawke, what are you TALKING about? First of all, it's not a "first step." They were simply renewing an existing law that was set to expire. I think Congress is being responsible by not creating a permanent law on such a new technology (yes, 20 years is new) when we're not sure how it will evolve over the next 100 years. It's much harder to repeal a law than it is to renew one every four years. And how is a sales tax relevant here? Not at all, but you should check your facts. Ecommerce merchants are NOT required to collect sales tax on any transaction unless they have a physical store located in the state where the transaction is made. Therefore, if I order from Amazon.com, I am not charged sales tax. But if I order from Apple.com, I am. But Apple already knows how to deal with interstate tax because they have stores nationwide. However, it falls on the customer to pay that sales tax to the state, which is due with income tax in the beginning of the following year.

Why do Republicans think they deserve roads, street lights, effective emergency response, effective government agencies, but not think they should have to pay for it?