I think our governor, John 'Big J' Engler, is okay for the state, but he loves taxes.
The internet will be taxed into an ad for ABC/NBC/FOX and the other thing cbs:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The free ride on the Internet ends this Sunday.


Congress on Thursday chose not to extend a 1998 ban on taxes that target the Internet, meaning that, theoretically, state and local governments could begin imposing Internet taxes on Monday.

"Starting Monday, there's an opportunity for considerable economic mischief," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.

There is concern that tax officials around the country could begin interpreting their tax laws as applying to the Internet. Some lawmakers say that would be a drag on the already faltering economy.

"This is no time for Congress to permit a new onslaught of taxes on the consumer, or on the tech sector," Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., said.

The moratorium wasn't without its problems, though. It left unresolved a complicated issue involving uncollected state sales taxes on electronic commerce. There is an estimated $26 billion or so at stake for the year 2000 alone. Because the Senate couldn't agree on what to do about it, they declined to extend the moratorium immediately.

State and local governments want a piece of that $26 billion action. They say that if Congress does renew the ban, it should let them make out-of-state Internet, catalogue and telephone sellers do the work of collecting sales taxes and passing them back to the governments.

A state is barred under a Supreme Court decision from forcing an out-of-state business to collect its sales tax unless the business has a physical presence, or "nexus," in that state. But buyers are generally supposed to pay the tax when they purchase something from an out-of-state retailer under current law, but the laws are rarely enforced.

"A lot of mayors and governors don't want the political heat of collecting those taxes," Wyden said.

In their quest for their share of the $26 billion, government officials are backed by most traditional retailers, including many of the nation's largest chains. They say Internet competitors have an unfair advantage.

Internet sellers want the current patchwork of tax rates and rules in some 7,500 jurisdictions replaced by something less burdensome. They also fear being subjected to dozens of other kinds of state taxes and audits, particularly involving corporate taxes.

Earlier this week, the House passed a straight two-year extension of the current moratorium that did not address the sales tax question. That was blocked in the Senate.

"We ought to deal with both sets of problems at the same time," Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said. "I would object to a two-year moratorium that doesn't address the second problem."

But Dorgan failed Thursday to win Senate approval of an extension until June 30 that encouraged states to work on a simplified system to collect taxes on remote sales.

That sealed the moratorium's fate for the time being. Both houses of Congress are in recess until Tuesday while the Capitol complex is checked for anthrax contamination.

Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., said he wants sales tax simplification that would result in "one form, once place to send your check, and one audit."

Republicans and Democrats insisted Thursday that they would resolve their differences and pass an extension of the moratorium before adjourning for the year. There may be an effort to take up the House-passed two-year extension next week in the Senate and allow votes on a series of sales tax amendments.

"There is an interest on both sides of the aisle to extend the moratorium," Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., said.

That sucks.

That's not considered likely. The ban will likely be reinstated later, and was only prevented from passing now because of a complex debate about how to handle the lost state-tax revenue.

But given enough time and a need for revenue, we could eventually be paying the piper to browse the Web.

I have a tax number.
Unfortunately,
all states do not offer reciprocity
like CT.

Too many business' would go out of business if taxes are collected.  

The real problem for
a small business would
be having to file a tax return
in every state.

...and so we get to know the true identity of the terrorists against the American people...

And, also have to collect sales tax in many cities.  The scary part is that some cities, like Reston, VA at one time, claim that you have a nexus in their city if the traffic passes through their city.  That would be a mess.  A single purchase could incur salestax in dozens of jurisdictions.  Senator Hollings, (D from South Carolina) argued for the moratorium on taxes, not because he thought the above was wrong, but because South Carolina wouldn't receive enough of the cut.z

Has "King John" come out in support of internet taxes????  That seems pretty out of character for him.

Damn government has to have a hand in everything.

Anyone that doesn't agree with an internet taxe, which will go towards fighting the war on terrorism, is an isolationist and supports Osama Bin Laden. The republicans have better things to do than making government smaller and we must all come together in a "Net taxes for freedom" coalition.

This moratoreum has been extended every time it came up since 1995. In 1995, Clinton wanted to collect taxes on the internet so a newly appointed Republican Congress told him to take a hike. Now unfortunately Democrats have Control of the Senate. In 1997 and 1999 it was renewed and will likely be renewed sometime.

But, sales taxes have never been collected on phone sales [;)]. This means sites that can will divert internet purchases to phone line purchases.

Another problem is how to determine where the taxes go.   The company could be incorporated in deleware, have offices in Ohio, have the web servers located in Chicago, have the transaction processed by a third party located in California.

Damn... How the heck do they figure out what tax rate to tax?

Screw it. I won't pay any taxes.
Sign the petition here anyway:

[url]http://www.libertypetitions.com[/url]

And what taxes do I pay and to whom when I order something from overseas?  Sheesh!  can you say offshore-enterprises?  Good lord!  what a bunch of ninnies in D.C.