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upon the conclusion of the Spanish-American War and the need to finance it, this so-called "luxury tax" on the super-rich would be repealed.
Do you see the issue of Internet sales taxes coming up again?
Cox: I'm personally going to push for enactment of my legislation to make the ban on Internet taxes permanent. And of course we still have the VoIP issues to deal with.
What do you think Congress will do regarding VoIP this year?
Cox: The philosophical question that Congress must address is whether the Internet is going to be the model for telecommunications in the future. Or, rather, whether 1930s-era regulation is going to be the model for the Internet. I hope the Internet is not going to be dragged into the 1930s.
Some of last year's legislation dealt with universal service taxes. What do you think should happen regarding universal service and VoIP?
Cox: To the extent that in America we need to subsidize the underprivileged, we should do so. But we should do it out of general (tax) revenues. There's no reason to pick on technology, which is responsible for 100 percent of the productivity gains in our economy.
Some technology companies have said the federal government's top cybersecurity official needs a promotion. What's your take?
Cox: That's of course something that we have been pushing hard for in the Homeland Security committee over the last two years, elevating the profile of cyber inside the Department of Homeland Security and inside the federal government.
What would you like the Department of Homeland Security to do that they haven't?
Cox: The general challenge facing incoming Secretary Michael Chertoff is setting priorities. The main focus of DHS has to be on prevention of the most serious kinds of terrorist attacks that could indefinitely disrupt our economy or kill millions of people.
Initially, cybersecurity was thought to be merely an offshoot of infrastructure protection. It was the IT component of dams, roads, bridges, industrial process, and so on. Increasingly in the intelligence community, in the Department of Defense and across the government, we are recognizing that there are distinct cyberthreats with serious consequences.
You're saying that they're viewed as more serious than they were a few years ago?
Cox: The cyberfocus has to extend beyond the control of industrial processes and the IT component of other infrastructure protection. From asymmetric warfare launched by other nations to attacks
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Between now and March 22, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (or FCC) will decide if Internet-based phone services (also known as VoIP services, or broadband phone services) should be kept free of heavy regulation and of unfair access charges which are subsidies in the form of Government-backed corporate welfare to the "near monopolies" you probably know as the "Phone Company".
This important decision could happen any time between now and March 22nd; so please take 30 seconds to fill out the form below which will be mailed directly to the FCC members. Together we can make a difference.
http://fcc.NOTaDuck.com/
Between now and March 22, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (or FCC) will decide if Internet-based phone services (also known as VoIP services, or broadband phone services) should be kept free of heavy regulation and of unfair access charges which are subsidies in the form of Government-backed corporate welfare to the "near monopolies" you probably know as the "Phone Company".
This important decision could happen any time between now and March 22nd; so please take 30 seconds to fill out the form below which will be mailed directly to the FCC members. Together we can make a difference.
http://fcc.NOTaDuck.com/
Get a high powered lobbyist....
Its done....
Get a high powered lobbyist....
Its done....
if the internet were taxed, call your broker and tell him to buy stock in foreign countries... because thats where internet companies would move to. How do you collect a tax if my internet site is in timbuktu? Why should I stay in an inhospitable to business country that wants to tax me and not my compitition?
There goes the nieghborhood.
- impossible
- by April 11, 2005 4:47 PM PDT
- Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face...
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(12 Comments)if the internet were taxed, call your broker and tell him to buy stock in foreign countries... because thats where internet companies would move to. How do you collect a tax if my internet site is in timbuktu? Why should I stay in an inhospitable to business country that wants to tax me and not my compitition?
There goes the nieghborhood.