And now for some good news: Ban on Internet taxes is about to become permanent

If you told me Washington almost never does anything positive, I’d have a hard time disagreeing with you. But at least the use of the word “almost” means nothing is absolute, so I’m glad to actually have some good news for you. Congress has passed, and President Obama is expected to sign, a permanent ban on the taxing of e-mail and other Internet services. This is not a new thing because there have been a series of temporary bans enacted starting in 1998, when the Internet was still a relatively new phenomenon and people used expressions like “world wide web” and “surf the net.”

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(OK, fine. You never did. I believe you.) But this is the first time Congress has agreed to pass a permanent ban on these taxes, which apply not only at the federal level but at the state and local levels as well. This is going to be a huge disappointment to a lot of state legislators who thought they had a big opportunity to rake in dollars off your online activity, but for once Republican control of both the House and the Senate appears to have done us some good. Once Obama signs the ban, it will take the affirmative effort of a future Congress to repeal the ban and allow Internet taxes at any point going forward. That’s significant because before this bill, would-be Internet taxers at least theoretically had to wait for the existing ban to expire and hope no extension would be passed. There is no longer an expiration date. And that leads us to an interesting question: Why would Obama sign a bill like this? He never met a tax he didn’t like at any level of government, so why agree to a ban like this? Some of you aren’t going to like the answer: It’s part of a larger bill that is designed to pave the way for the Pacific trade agreement he’s been negotiating.

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I know that is unpopular with a lot of conservatives (and to be honest, a lot of liberals too), and for the moment I’ll defer on discussing the merits of the trade deal. But at the very least, we should be pleased that Republicans didn’t let the moment pass without at least forcing Obama to accept the ban on Internet taxes as part of the deal. (If Obama was willing to negotiate like that, Iran might have freed those American hostages many months earlier than it did. But oh well. Obama is actually a pretty skilled negotiator when it comes to things he cares about. Give that some thought. One of the great things about the Internet is that it’s remained relatively free of government interference and control, despite the efforts of Democrats to impose “net neutrality” and so forth. The fact that it will now remain tax-free as well gives the Internet a strong chance to continue revolutionizing our lives in positive ways. This is not one of the right problems I talk about in my new book, but it is something positive so I’m all for heading into a new week on the heels of some rare positive news coming out of Washington.

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