The current debate about Internet taxation illustrates well how taxes threaten
privacy.
In 2000, the U.S. National Governors Association (NGA) issued proposals to
tax electronic commerce that would have required massive databases of consumer
purchasing information. Though the NGA quickly disavowed these portions
of its e-commerce tax proposals when their privacy-invading characteristics were
revealed, all destination-based systems to tax electronic commerce (that is, taxing
where the consumer resides rather than where the seller resides) would require
consumers' purchases to be tracked and stored in databases.
Proposals for taxation of e-commerce by U.S. states continue to evolve. Privacy
would be a cost of many such proposals.
Links:
Streamlined Sales
Tax System for the 21st Century Web site, Federation of Tax Administrators,
Multistate Tax Commission, National Conference of State Legislatures, National
Governors Association
Double Standard
in Dallas by Jessica Melugin, Competitive Enterprise Institute (March 24, 2000)
Internet
Taxman? Nay, Virtual Peeping Tom by Sonia Arrison, Pacific Research Institute (March 17, 2000)
Internet
Tax Animation, produced by PolicyCounsel.Com (2000)
Comments? comments@privacilla.org
(Subject: InternetTax)
[updated 04/17/02]
