Taxes, Taxes, And Internet Taxes

from the when-the-government-needs-money... dept

There's a law in the US called the Internet Tax Freedom Act which says that internet access cannot be taxed. The idea is to encourage more people to connect to the internet. Increasingly, though, it appears that government agencies are sneaking around this prohibition. State governments are increasingly figuring out ways to tax DSL service by classifying it as a "telecommunications service" instead of "internet access". On top of this, the FCC is looking to add a tax to cable modem service, by reclassifying the control they have over "information services". In other words, despite the laws saying you can't tax internet access, when governments are desperate for money, they'll find a way to tax anything - even if it's specifically prohibited. On a related note, over in Europe, they're now requiring the collection of sales tax, even if the sale is done by an American company. So, not only are US companies having to worry about how they're going to deal with all the different US state sales tax rules, they also have to collect taxes for the EU.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Jun 2003 @ 1:12pm

    No Subject Given

    When is the last time the FCC did anything in the interest of consumers?

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.