[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Lawmakers: Let's Be Sure We're Collecting VoIP Tax here

[number6]

It's ridiculous to tax VoIP.

[phillypa800]

ENOUGH with the GREED already! stop trying to tax every gosh darn thing out there! the TAX system is broken and everyone knows this. the collected taxes already goes to WASTE without a dime streaming to its worthy cause!
the government has no money as it is and by collecting more taxes will be that be the answer? uhhhh, so sick of where this country is headed...

[Matt2624]

Well... now that the TaxMaster is president, I'm sure he'll find a way to make it happen. Not only do they want to tax VOIP money out of us, they're spending our money just to talk about how they can tax more of it out of us... Sounds like double-dipping..

[PoorBird]

Whoa. Stop. Hold the phone...no pun intended. We are already paying all kinds of taxes and fees for our internet service.
A VoIP phone number is merely another use of the connection we already pay taxes on.
I'm no tax expert, but is it legal (or moral) to tax the same thing twice? I think not. I have a very basic VoIP phone
line for $9.95/month.... have had it over 2 years and serves our purposes perfectly for little money.... but the bill is $15.42/month... still not bad, but the fees and taxes on that are over 50%.....enuf is enuf. Read my lips.

[wired4action]

"U.S. lawmakers want to make sure they're collecting enough taxes on your VoIP service."

Heaven forbid some government agency should miss out on it's God-given right to collect some kind of a tax on everything.

Here in New York state you are taxed for something or other the second you cross the state line. We are taxed on the air we breathe in New York; might as well not miss out on some of the words we use while exhaling into our various communication devices.

[PoorBird]

As regards the post from "wired4action".... you should see the annexation law here in NC.... it is taxation without representation at its ultimate. I believe that there

are 50 state legislatures that are packed full of politicians that have never seen a tax they didn't like. They are mostly inept leaders(?) that can't manage a bag of popcorn, so they jump at every chance to sponge more money from us. I thought we once fought a war over this kind of thing. I dunno.

[wired4action]

Hey, PoorBird (great handle--especially for this article!).

{quote} I believe that there are 50 state legislatures that are packed full of politicians that have never seen a tax they didn't like.{quote}
I believe that, but why stop there--don't forget the Federal tax-and-spenders, Congress and our new trillion(s) dollar president.

{quote}you should see the annexation law here in NC.... it is taxation without representation at its ultimate{quote}
In New York our budget process is described as "three men in a room" (it really is--check it out). The two head-honchos of our legislature and our governor get together to decide on what the actual final budget and taxes will be, then the rest of the sheep must vote for it or risk losing all their perks (high paid committee memberships, the best offices, special money for their districts, support for incumbents for re-election, etc.,etc.).

If we were to get into an actual tax debate ("My state is worse than yours is..."), I would start out by saying that New York is the highest taxed state in the nation. And why are New Yorkers leaving in droves to go to states like North Carolina (literally thousands have moved to your state to escape our taxes---I personally know quite a few).

Honest to God, they're trying to come up with ways to tax the internet here (I am not making this up)! Anyway I guess we're all victims of our own government nowadays. Have a great day (if you can afford to ).
(BTW our NY guys our probably trying to figure out a way to tax you for having a great day!)

[PoorBird]

Its hard to believe that in these United States, we could have a reasonably lively debate about who lives in the worse state!...deplorable! All this male bovine

fecal matter is appearing in every segment, though - public and private. I live in one of TimeWarner's "test" markets for tiered bandwidth pricing..... don't know how its gonna shake out for us, because I have no idea how much bandwidth we use. I know we are not "mega users", but I haveno doubt that I am not in the 30% of customers that TWC rates as "light" users. i fully expect that our TWC bill will go up...and that likely will raise the taxed portion of that bill.... except that TWC plays cute

and doesn't show any taxable amount except against the cable part of the bill.... but of course, this subject reallly belongs in a different forum..... but it is all part of the same mess in which we consumers find ourselves. i don't know about you, but our pocketbook is tapped out. There is no more water in the well. i'm looking for a cave

somewhere for me to retire into.

[wired4action]

Hey, again PoorBird.

{quote}Its hard to believe that in these United States, we could have a reasonably lively debate about who lives in the worse state!{quote}
I wholeheartedly agree. Sad but true. At one time or another in this great nation's history the argument would have been about which state is the best.

And regarding the private sector in respect to internet connections I recently checked out the prices for Time Warner high-speed in my area (Niagara Falls-Buffalo, NY). $50 for the slowest and lowest (monthly limits)! Get out of town! I'm on a dial-up connection (which absolutely sucks) for $10.95/month. Verizon (our local phone provider) is busy installing FiOs (which they sell in nearby areas for un-Godly money) but won't even let their customers know if they are extending their DSL service (much more reasonably priced--$20/month) to where I live. I have friends just a few miles (4) away who get it but I suspect it won't be extended to me; they won't spend the cash, instead waitng to see if they can suck us into their FiOs deal (get your internet access cheaper with TV package--but I love my sattelite system).
And of course the taxable portion of your bill will go up if it's anything like NY--they get a percentage --the more you're charged the more the state gets!

You're right, we're getting off-topic here, so let me just agree with your final statement:
{quote}i don't know about you, but our pocketbook is tapped out. There is no more water in the well. i'm looking for a cave somewhere for me to retire into.{quote}

P.S. Don't look for a cave here in NY--The property taxes will kill you!