February 16, 2004

Taxing the 'Net: Alexander Backs Down a Bit

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is pushing a "compromise" on legislation to restore the federal ban on Internet access taxes. That's a good thing, I guess, since last fall Alexander was obstinately refusing to allow the ban to be reinstated, arguing in favor of allowing states to raise taxes. Alexander said his was the conservative position - he was simply making a "state's rights" argument. But he's wrong about that. As I wrote back on Nov. 17, 2003:

Alexander portrays the issue as one of states rights versus federal mandates, but that's a red herring. There's no federal mandate involved, simply a federal ban on a certain kind of taxes. The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress the right to make laws governing interstate commerce, and the Internet clearly involves interstate commerce.