Wisconsin To Tax Internet Downloads?
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle is offering a new state budget with an ugly little twist. If passed, Wisconsin residents will pay state taxes on items they download from the Internet. Taxable downloads would include songs, e-books, movies and even artwork.
The “Doyle Download Tax” would raise an estimated 1.6 million dollars a year for the state coffers. Doyle justifies the tax by asserting that brick and mortar stores are required to collect sales tax on such items, so taxing online transactions is just leveling the field.
Commentary
Governor Doyle is a political hypocrite. He ran on a platform of “no new taxes”, but creates a new tax. He also promised to attract technology companies to Wisconsin, but this tax kills any such efforts because other state jurisdictions do not require the payment of such taxes.
What a fool.