The ongoing fight against the Internet Tax took a bad turn last week when Rhode Island followed New York and signed its own version of the Internet Tax into law. As always Melanie Seery has the smartest commentary on this in which she points out that Rhode Island was being watched carefully by legislators nationwide after Arnold the Gubernator’s veto of a similar bill in California.
Rhode Island breaks the seal and with state budgets tight everywhere, this fight is going to ramp up all over again. If you are a publisher in North Carolina, Connecticut or Maryland, you may want to ensure your cashflow doesn’t just depend on Amazon and Overstock because those are the places and programs that commentators think are most vulnerable.
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August 27, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I believe what this states are doing is unconstitutional. Congress regulates interstate commerce not the states. This country was founded on No Taxation Without Representation. If someone is expected to pay taxes in Rhode Island, Rhode Island has the obligation to send voter registration information to ALL of the tax payers of Rhode Island. I do not live, vote, use police services or use the aging infrastructure.
We need to start a campaign writing our Congressional members informing them the states are usurping Congressional powers and we do not support Internet taxes in any form. This is not a business issue. Businesses simply collect taxes and turn them over to the states and local government. Where does this stop? Will we all one day pay income taxes to each of the states that have income taxes? Nexus laws are unconstitutional.
Write your Congressman to stop this high jacking of constitutional powers. Congress is empowered to stop states from taking these actions with legislation. We do not have to wait for the courts.
Arnold was oh so correct when he used his veto.