More Internet Taxes on the Way?

by on February 1, 2005

Forget paying for Iraq. Apparently, Congress is still worried about paying for that pesky Spanish-American War in 1898. In a report released last week, the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation suggested that the current three percent federal excise tax on telecommunications–originally imposed as a way of paying for the Spanish-American War–be expanded to all communications services to end user, including Internet access, VOIP services, and the telecom portion of cable and satellite telephone service.

The JCT proposal is, thankfully, only an “option” for taxation listed among many other options, and doesn’t necessarily mean Congress is going for the idea. Still, its telling that repealing this senseless tax was not listed as an option. Seems we need to keep an eye on this “anti-tax” Congress.

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James Gattuso / James Gattuso is a Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Gattuso also leads the Enterprise and Free Markets Initiative at Heritage, with responsiblity for a range of regulatory and market issues. Prior to joining Heritage, he served as Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and also as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). From 1990 to 1993, he was Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. From May 1991 to June 1992, he was detailed from the FCC to the office of Vice President Dan Quayle, where he served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana, 8 year-old son, Peter (whom he relies upon to operate his VCR), and his four year-old daughter Lindsey (who does the DVD player.) He has no known hobbies, but is not nearly as boring as he seems.

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