With the moratorium on taxing the internet set to expire Nov.1, Congress is once again debating taxing internet purchases, as well as connection taxes.

Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., has introduced a bill to tax internet purchases saying that if Congress continues to allow these revenues to go uncollected that other taxes such as income and property will need to be raised to offset the losses. I always thought the Republican party was about smaller government and less taxes, but this Republican Senator obviously cannot grasp the idea of spending less, rather than taxing more.

I suggest folks start paying attention to this, because the potential is there to have fees on dialup and broadband connections similar to the telephone connection taxes, as well as fees on e-mail. I know some sites already calculate in state sales taxes on purchases, but it could become the norm for all if the moratorium is allowed to expire, along with federal taxes being imposed.

I'm gonna take the unpopular side on this one and say there should be taxes here. States and the Feds do need money to run the country. Yes, they should spend less. Spending a bajillion dollars on war is wasteful and stupid. But, its unreasonable to think we can live without any taxes. And if people are going to make a majority of their purchases on the internet and not pay taxes, those of us who make purchases in the stores will have to pay more to make up for that. Or we'll have to raise property taxes and personal property and so forth. A small fee on dialup or broadband for everyone doesn't bother me too much since companies with thousands of connections will be hit harder than joe individual, and sales tax is only fair. I doubt they'll ever be able to realistically charge per e-mail and that won't ever pass.

Spending a bajillion dollars on war is wasteful and stupid.

Going to war for the wrong reasons is stupid. But, once the commitment to go to war is made, the money spent is vital to the safety, morale, outcome and health of our troops. To say the money is a waste is a very naive or traitorous thing to say in my opinion.

:devil

Cost of the war to the point of ...
"Mission Accomplished": $50 billion
Saddam Captured: $80 billion
Today: $400 billion
Thats a little over $1,300 per US Citizen ... (including the elderly and those under the age of 18 who don't pay taxes). I say spending that much money with nothing but negative outcomes is a far more traitorous thing to support. Any time someone brings up wanting to provide health care and education for all Americans the question is always asked "where are you gonna get the money for that?" but its totally acceptable to write a blank check for this decades biggest blunder?

And Trikki, you really should be the last person to lecture on the topic of being naive.

Talking about taxes, here in France we pay a special tax on stockage devices, mainly DVD and CD, because they can be used for burning illegal materials from the internet.

Many people, me included, think that if we are "comdamned" guilty before even doing anything (on top of that, 90% of these devices are used by companies for what they are made for, stocking datas), why not download and burn CDs, we pay for that!

I wonder if taxing when connecting won't give a boost to internet sales, if people already pay for being on the net, why not use it for purchasing more?

I don't think I could purchase more using the internet than I already do.

I'm against it on the general principle that we manage to spend twice as much as we get anyway, so this only gets us into further debt faster.

I'm against it on the general principle that we manage to spend twice as much as we get anyway, so this only gets us into further debt faster.

lol