Re: ****Tacoma, Washington Starts Taxing Internet Access 07/30/96

[blane@aa.net (Brian C. Lane)]

On Mon, 05 Aug 1996 11:17:29 -0700, you wrote:

>At 05:42 AM 8/5/96 -1000, NetSurfer wrote:
>>
>>On Wed, 31 Jul 1996, Joseph M. Reagle Jr. wrote:
>>
>>>   	  				 
>>> >WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1996 JUL 30 (NB) -- By Bill Pietrucha.  
>>> >Tacoma, Washington, has just gained the distinction of being the 
>>> >only municipality in the United States to tax Internet Access 
>>> >providers (IAPs) like telephone service providers. 
>>> >
>I believe the reason the Tacoma ordinance is getting so much flack is that
>they are wanting to charge sales tax on all transactions that take place
>from ISPs in Tacoma.

  A slight correction. They are imposing a 6% tax on the Gross receipts of
all Internet Providers who have customers in Tacoma. This includes AOL,
Compu$erve, and my local favorites - aa.net and eskimo.com

  Tacoma also wants these companies to buy a $72 a year business license.
There are the beginnings of an uprising against this, the mayor has called
for it to be repealed, but the City Council (In all of its bureaucratic
wisdom) wants to wait and see what happens. There's a public meeting on the
27th of August.

>
>This type of taxation is not new.  Various jurisdictions have tried to use
>the same thing on mail order houses.  Having worked for a service bureau
>that dealt with mail order, I know what a hassle it is to try to keep track
>of such taxation.  There is a company that will sell you the data of all of
>the sales tax rates throughout the country.  This includes every little
>podunk city, county, and fire district tax.  They are divided by zip code,
>but that is no guarantees that you have the right place. The reality is that
>trying to "be legal" under such regulations is next to impossible, even with
>the proper data.  I know of few mail order firms that are willing to go to
>that extreme.  (Unless, of course, they have gotten the proper threats from
>some miffed tax baron.)

  Plus the fact that the taxation of these services (well, IMHO all
taxation is ...) is not based on services provided to the business by the
city. My provider is located in seattle, and has lines in Tacoma. They use
no Tacoma services, and yet Tacoma says that the provider owes them money.

  Its just another grab for money by the simple minded bureaucrats.
Hopefully we can toss some more of these jokers out of office the next
election.

   Brian

p.s. Sorry for the previous aborted message. The printer dialog popped up
in the middle of typing and it the message somehow got sent out.

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