Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud

    Internet Tax Decision by Congress Not Expected This Year

    By
    Todd R. Weiss
    -
    November 12, 2014
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Internet tax

      Proposed legislation mandating Internet taxes for online purchases across the nation won’t be considered by the lame duck Congress this year after U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said he has “significant concerns” about an existing Senate plan for such taxes.

      Boehner’s comments about not reviewing the Internet tax legislation this year were reported in a Nov. 11 story by The Wall Street Journal. A previously approved moratorium on broadly collected taxes on Internet-based purchases will expire on Dec. 11, making the issue more complicated for the nation’s 9,600 state and local taxing authorities that are waiting to find out if they will ever be able to tax Internet purchases as a new revenue stream.

      The proposed Senate plan, which is being led through a bipartisan effort by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sens. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) and Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.), “has been trying to meld the popular moratorium with a separate measure that would force online merchants to collect sales taxes for all of those 9,600 revenue departments, even in places where the merchants have no physical presence,” The Journal reported.

      The issue was taken off the table for now, the newspaper reported, after Boehner’s spokesman, Kevin Smith, said that Boehner was not happy with the Senate proposals. “The Speaker has made clear in the past he has significant concerns about the bill, and it won’t move forward this year,” Smith told the paper. At this point, Smith continued, “the House and Senate should work together to extend the moratorium on Internet taxation without further delay.”

      Boehner’s stand to let the Senate bill die without a vote this year won’t be celebrated by retailers, which have been seeking uniform tax collection processes for online purchases across the nation. Many retailers see Internet tax legislation as a way of leveling the playing field with online merchants that don’t have the expenses of running brick-and-mortar stores, according to a Nov. 10 report by the Financial Times.

      “Retailers such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy have long railed against a perceived loophole that they say gives e-commerce rivals an unfair advantage by enabling many online shoppers to avoid sales tax,” the Financial Times reported. “The announcement is a blow to retailers which had calculated that the bill had a better chance of passing this year—with control split between Republicans and Democrats—than in a new Congress controlled by Republicans.”

      One issue that continues to make the issue difficult for Congress is that many conservatives in the House and Senate “have complained that the bill amounts to a new tax and would expand states’ authority by enabling them to collect tax via online businesses in other jurisdictions,” the article reported.

      Internet tax proposals and battles have been going on for years. When Internet retailing began, tax moratoriums were established to give nascent online businesses a chance to get started and reach critical success levels. Now many competing retailers say that such benefits are no longer needed and that taxes should be collected to make things fair for all businesses.

      In December 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a sales tax case between Amazon.com, Overstock.com and the state of New York, continuing the indecision over such taxes, according to a previous eWEEK story. New York had argued that even though Amazon had no facilities and no employees in the state that any partnership that Amazon might have in New York meant that it was in business there. Such an approach meant that any New York-based suppliers, including book companies, should trigger that exposure to sales tax. The Supreme Court avoided the issue by choosing not to hear the case, but the issues remain across the nation.

      Todd R. Weiss
      As a technology journalist covering enterprise IT for more than 15 years, I joined eWEEK.com in September 2014 as the site's senior writer covering all things mobile. I write about smartphones, tablets, laptops, assorted mobile gadgets and services,mobile carriers and much more. I formerly was a staff writer for Computerworld.com from 2000 to 2008 and previously wrote for daily newspapers in eastern Pennsylvania. I'm an avid traveler, motorcyclist, technology lover, cook, reader, tinkerer and mechanic. I drove a yellow taxicab in college and collect toy taxis and taxi business cards from around the world.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×