Political Quotes

“the power to tax is indeed the power to destroy. The Internet not only offers us an amazing way of communication, but it offers a tremendous potential, a revolutionary potential for electronic commerce. With the Internet still in its rather fragile youth, hasty or excessive use of taxation could easily destroy this wonderful new wellspring of free speech and economic enterprise. Suppose a Texan finds on the Internet a new software package that could double her business potential and decides to buy it over the Internet. She is sitting at a computer in Texas. The company which produces the product is headquartered in Washington State, and she uses an Internet server that is located in Illinois. Washington, Illinois and Texas and all of their subdivisions that are relevant have a claim to somehow tax this transaction. In a way, the transaction has taken place in each of these three States. Will my neighbor in Austin get a tax bill from all three, plus their subdivisions, or will the States somehow have to fight it out over who gets to tax the most-and-the-first test? Well, I believe that the current situation is really a mess. We have the potential of over 30,000 jurisdictions that could be doing the taxing. If we do not enact this moratorium, it will mean up to 30,000 hands in the cookie jar, and when all these governments have taken out all the taxes they want, the consumers and the businesses who want to rely on the Internet will have only a few crumbs.”