There aren’t too many bills worth calling your senator about, but a Bill permanently banning taxation of the Internet is certainly one. Of course, localities have been collecting handsomely on our purchases at brick and mortar stores since we were born. That was always based on the idea that commercial areas need the support of roads and cops and other services that impact a city when people are driving around to do their shopping.
"Every time we, in our wisdom, tell a state or a city that it cannot use this tax, all we are doing is increasing the chance that Minnesota or Tennessee will increase some other tax, or fire some teachers or lay off some employees or close some parks," Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
The Internet doesn’t cost local governments anything; in fact, it saves them money because they have fewer commercial businesses to support with government services. What’s implicit in Alexander’s plea is that local governments’ have been using sales tax money to fund their whims. Localities can put these services that Lamar loves to a vote. Before we had a plethora of government spending, did people sit around the house wondering why there wasn’t a $30,000 statue outside of the courthouse? Maybe some money is spent just because it’s available. I don’t see why some Orlando politician should have any right to dictate the terms of my commerce over the phone lines. I’m already paying my phone bill that includes enough taxes to pay for a bunch of other unrelated programs.
I have been less than a fan of Alexander since he donned that ridiculous plaid shirt to run for President. It was the first time in politics that a politician used a shirt to prove that he was an empty shirt. Where was the promise of smaller government that got Republicans elected in 1994? Republicans have gone power mad and have forgotten who they are. Quit wasting money and searching for new taxation. Be responsible while you have the power, or we’ll spend the rest of our lives paying off your debt.
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