They better not.
Friday, May 25, 2007 9:42 p.m. EDT
Congress Considers Web TaxesProposals in the U.S. Congress could lead to taxes on Internet shopping, broadband connections and even e-mail by this fall. State and local governments are lobbying Congress to gain the ability to impose the new taxes.
Sen. Michael Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, has introduced a bill that would usher in mandatory sales tax collection for Internet purchases, the CNET News.com Web site reported.
And the House has held a hearing to decide whether to let a temporary ban on Net access taxes lapse when it expires in November.
"With Democrats now in control of both chambers of Congress, the political dynamic appears to have shifted in favor of the pro-tax advocates and their allies on Capitol Hill,” according to CNET.
But Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, said he prefers "an impregnable ban on taxes on the Internet.”
If the ban on Net access taxes is allowed to lapse, states and municipalities could impose an array of access taxes, just as they now do on telephone bills.
Internet users could then see a tax on e-mails, said Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who added:
"They might say, ‘We have no interest in having tax on e-mail,’ but if we allow the prohibition on Internet taxes to expire, then you open the door on cities and towns and states to tax e-mail or other aspects of Internet access.”
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/5/25/214344.shtml?s=ic