Sales Tax
Sales Tax Holidays Hardly Bargains, Analysts Say
Almost everyone loves a sales tax holiday, and it’s not hard to see why. Consumers save a few dollars on sales taxes. Retailers watch their stores fill with eager shoppers. And politicians get credit from both groups. What’s not to love here? Well, quite a bit, according to a growing chorus of tax analysts and […]
Governors To Congress: Let Us Tax Internet Sales
More than 40 governors are calling for congressional approval of state sales taxes on Internet purchases. In a letter sent to all House and Senate members late last Friday (8/17), the governors urge Congress not to renew a 1998 moratorium on Internet access taxes unless the states are allowed to design a system for the […]
Governors Battle Over E-Taxation
The nation’s governors are deeply divided over whether e-commerce should be subjected to state sales taxes, as is the case with transactions in brick-and-mortar settings. What had been a quietly simmering disagreement has erupted in a public way in recent weeks. Last month, an Internet tax panel chaired by Republican Virginia Gov. James Gilmore gave […]
Green Bay Packers Seeking Legislative Touchdown
MADISON — The Green Bay Packers last went to the Super Bowl in 1998. They say if fans want them to go back more often, the answer is a renovated stadium that will provide the team more money to buy on-field talent. “We’re fighting for survival,” says Green Bay Packers President Bob Harlan. But the […]
New York Sales Tax Holidays Prove Popular Idea
With New York planning to make its temporary clothing sales tax holidays permanent on March 1, other states are considering copying the limited-time tax breaks popularized by New York, Texas and Florida. Dec. 1 was to have been the day the sales tax on attire was lifted for good. But under a deal reached earlier […]
Presidential Candidates Largely Mum On Internet Taxation
With the political debate over whether to tax Internet commerce heating up, one group of spotlight-seeking politicians is, for the most part, ducking the issue. The only presidential candidates who have taken a public position on this critical question, which will surely be atop the legislative agenda during the next presidents first year in office, […]
Political Divisions Widen On E-Commerce Taxation
WASHINGTON — With less than a week remaining before a self-imposed November 15 proposal deadline, the congressionally-appointed Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce Wednesday received two major proposals from conservative groups to make electronic commerce and Internet access completely tax-free. The two anti-tax proposals come on the heels of a recommendation adopted by state and local […]
E-Commerce Advisory Panel Threads Political Minefield
NEW YORK — The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce walked a tightrope between policy and process this week as members of the panel wrapped up a two-day meeting without moving significantly closer to a recommendation to Congress on Internet taxation. Its deliberations demonstrated anew that cyberspace is the newest hottest tax policy battleground. The New […]
E-Commerce Panel Hopes For Progress At New York Meeting
WASHINGTON — Facing a deadline of next April, members of the congressionally-appointed Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce meet Tuesday and Wednesday in New York City to continue drafting an Internet sales tax policy recommendation. With only two other meetings scheduled after this week, the 19-member panel’s task will be hampered if there is a repeat […]
Internet Tax Panel Starts Work, Hits Snags
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Convening in an auditorium that looked more like a computer sales floor than a committee hearing room, the congressionally appointed Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce met for the first time this week to begin forging a national policy recommendation on Internet taxation. But at the end of two days of public hearings […]
Internet Tax Panel To Start Work Next Month
WASHINGTON – Ending a six-month dispute over the composition of a congressionally created Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has named an Oregon county commissioner to fill a spot voluntarily vacated by Netscape CEO James Barksdale. This will allow the panel to schedule its first discussions toward forming the nation’s Internet […]