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Tax Moratorium for the Internet

© Benjamin Nham

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From the ill-fated V-chip to the Internet Decency Act to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, President Clinton has never seemed to get technology right. Until now.

Netizens now have reasons to raise President Clinton's approval ratings even further. At the Technology '98 conference in San Francisco this week, President Clinton announced initiatives that would keep America at the cutting-edge of technology.

First among those initiatives is the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Over the past few weeks, the technology buzz in Washington was that the politicians would encourage a tax moratorium on the Internet. Clinton has finally put the end to the buzz with his annoucement of the Internet Tax Freedom Act.

Although the act allows states to tax Internet commerce, it does not allow it to discriminate the Internet and tax it even more. Many people approve of this law because they believe Internet commerce is an ever-evolving thing, and a tax moratorium would only help it grow. Besides, the Internet places less stress on physical infrastructure than regular shopping at the mall.

The Department of Commerce projected this year's revenues for Internet commerce at only $1 billion, but it projects that the revenues will explode five years from now to $70 billion. Obviously, that's a lot of tax revenues.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act was in direct response to the National Governor's Association's resolution asking Congress to pass a law that would not allow taxation on Internet access, but allow taxation on Internet commerce.

Currently, Texas is levying a tax on personal homepages, and Minnesota is pondering a tax on Internet advertisers not physically based in that state.

At the conference, Clinton also announced a $23 million initiative to put America's cultural treasures online. He plans to have three million objects from the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives, and other historical points of interests online by the year 2000. He also announced a grant to private libraries and institutions to help post their collections online.

Another plan was announced to help President Clinton and Al Gore's effort to connect every classroom to the Internet. A National Science Foundation grant will allow 29 more universities to have access to the Next Generation Internet (NGI), raising the number to 92.

And what do Netizens think of these things? I see no reason for them to be disappointed. The tax moratorium will allow Internet commerce, a burgeoning industry, to grow faster. Clinton wanted every American to view their culture online, which can't be bad either. And finally, the NGI will allow for reliable network connections between universities and institutions, allowing for liquid-fast multimedia and the such.

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