Internet Access Tax Moratorium Debte

Gene Quinn has a great collection of information on the current debate, and links to his 2000 article:
Tax Implications for Electronic Commerce Over the Internet, 4.3 J. Tech. L. & Pol'y 1 (2000).

much ado and I haven't had much time to investigate this lately, though I've been tracking developments for the last few years.

my basic position: access should be completely free of taxation, but commerce could be taxed in a reasonable way.

why access should be free:
to explain by the oft-touted analogy to the "information superhighway"...
we do not pay a direct tax any time we take an on ramp on our local highway (unless you are on a toll road, and that is a usage fee, not a tax). by the same analogy, we should not pay a tax simply to jump on an information superhighway.

in the first, you pay tax when you buy your car, when you buy gasoline (which yes, I do recognize includes some "highway tax", but it is administered as a consumption/sales tax), and when you make repairs.

in the second, you pay tax when you buy your computer (like the car), when you buy something on amazon (like gasoline), and for repairs from usage or damage from viruses.

with both the car and the computer, we access the highway in order to locate and purchase/consume things, to produce income in order to purchase/consume things, or for personal pleasure.

those who can't afford cars or computers still need to access the highway, and they take the bus or go to the library or an internet cafe.

When we have long had the tradition of a free highway system (with the few toll roads as an exception) for cars, is it not only fair but right to have access to the internet free from taxation?

But more importantly is the issue of double taxation -- we already pay tax on our internet bill (especially if you are using your telephone line). And we pay tax on our cell phones and pdas which also access the internet.

Now I'm not against reevaluating the situation if access to the internet was ubiquitous, but we are still in the first 50 years of this project. not everyone can afford access yet -- many people can't even afford a computer. the federal government should continue to encourage expansion of access unhindered by yet another consumption tax which will impact the ones who can afford it the least the most.

and on that note, I will realize that it is getting later and I have some final exams to attend to...

and in two weeks, my "all tax, all the time" summer will come to an end (woo hoo!). then it will be "some tax, some of the time" before it becomes the "work you to death" year.