Vonage Runs Afoul Of Dreaded 'Failure To Hyperlink' Regulation

Congress Trying To Stop Pointless Telecommuting Tax

from the recognizing-the-times dept

Tue, May 23rd 2006 3:39pm — Mike Masnick

Thanks to the internet and other new technologies, it's clear that telecommuting can make a lot more sense for both employers and employees these days. While it doesn't make sense in all cases, the flexibility that telecommuting allows could really help out the economy in a lot of ways. That's why it was disappointing last year when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a Tennessee resident who was being forced to pay New York State taxes because his employer was in New York. He was willing to pay taxes for the amount of time he actually worked in New York, but the state claimed that he wouldn't have the job if it weren't for New York, and therefore he needed to pay up. Obviously, that could lead to some very tricky situations for both telecommuting workers and the employers that hire them -- and could likely lead to having the same income subject to taxes in multiple states. It's a blatant grab for money, at the expense of encouraging telecommuting. It appears Congress is now trying to fix the situation with a proposed law that would prevent states from taxing non-residents who telecommute. It seems like a reasonable solution, but such laws have been proposed in the past and never went anywhere. Hopefully, the attention paid to last year's case will help get this bill moved forward.

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

12 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Don G., 23 May 2006 @ 4:24pm

Income tax
Tennessee has an income tax. Usually, when one pays a tax such as that demanded by New York, the amount paid is deducted by the resident's home state from his tax. In this case, I suspect that New York's aggregate rate is more than Tennessee's, so Tennessee would net nothing, zero, zilch. I wonder if Tennessee was involved in this case? It clearly has an interest ...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
offshoreman, 23 May 2006 @ 4:31pm

Why did we go offshore
This is just another reason every one who can is going offshore. This is insane tax policy. The NY company can easily solve the problem for the telecommuters; incoporate in Anguilla and pay employees from there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Joseph Moye', 23 May 2006 @ 5:05pm

So, when did TN enact an income tax?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Joseph Moye', 23 May 2006 @ 5:06pm

Re: Income tax
So when did TN enact an income tax?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 23 May 2006 @ 6:13pm

That’s why we should do away with taxes and gain all income by conquering other nations... world conquest is very profitable these days.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
David, 23 May 2006 @ 6:44pm

Re: When did TN enact an income tax
They did that in 1929...what's your point?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Be an ACTIVIST, 23 May 2006 @ 7:10pm

Re: Re: When did TN enact an income tax
Tennessee does not have an "income tax" as most people know it. the Tenn Income tax that the previous poster, referenced was enacted in 29' and applies to interest from bonds and equities, and loans. not from Earned income via an occupation.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ian Lee, 23 May 2006 @ 7:19pm

Let's eliminate income tax entirely
All of these questions would be so much easier and cheaper to resolve if we were to just eliminate income taxes and go to sales taxes. Jump on the wagon! Visit http://fairtax.org.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Scott, 24 May 2006 @ 6:16am

Re: Let's eliminate income tax entirely
How would this be fair to all the rich people buying $20 million homes and $8 million dollar boats?

Have you no heart, can you not feel the plight of the Wall St. exec who only has a 60' yacht moored next to all the 80' ones?

The rich and powerful will never let that happen.....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John W., 24 May 2006 @ 8:40am

Re: Let's eliminate income tax entirely
"all of these questions would be so much easier and cheaper to resolve if we were to just eliminate income taxes and go to sales taxes"

Right on Ian!

We'd no longer have to spend time filling out tax forms, we'd collect taxes on all of the illegals out there, and all of our products would become cheaper since the personal and corporate income taxes wouldn't be embedded in the cost of stuff.

FairTax Thumbnail Sketch
http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/sketch.html

FairTax FAQ's
http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/faq-main.html

Main Site
http://www.fairtax.org
[ link to this | view in thread ]
J, 24 May 2006 @ 10:13am

Re: Why did we go offshore
Actually no....As long as the company has a taxable nexus to NY, then the state can and will impose a tax on them and their employees.

Think about all of the companies that are incorporated in Delaware, but do business in the other states. They still have to pay taxes.

Off shore incorporation is generally used to avoid US taxes on international profits.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Clay Stephens, 14 Jun 2006 @ 7:50am

Re: Income tax
You are incorrect. Tennessee has NO income tax. I have lived in TN my entire life, and believe me, there is no personal income tax. The "Hall" Income Tax applies only to dividends and investment interest on certain bonds, etc...
[ link to this | view in thread ]