Jimmie Batey
Mrs. Sprenger
Dual Government
01 October 2010
Federalism and the Internet Tax Freedom Act
The suitable relationship between federal and state governments has been an issue since a system of federalism has been set into action. It has been said that the federal should not have the ability to acquire more power than the state government, and vice versa. There have been many instances where this configuration of the government has been questioned. One of these many occasions is the dispute over the Internet Tax Freedom Act. The main point behind this clash is the moratorium on state taxation of Internet retail transactions.
The Internet Tax Freedom Act places a temporary moratorium over states ability to place taxes on internet access. This act also applies to many or biased taxes on e-commerce. There are few exceptions to this moratorium that are primarily based upon screening content unsuitable for minors (Nellen). The Internet Tax Freedom Act also calls for a nineteen member advisory committee on electric commerce. This assembly is to examine the many levels of tax with value for electric commerce (Nellen). This act’s purpose was to provide the people with tax free access to the internet for a temporary amount of time, or even permanently. It is blatantly obvious that this could cause some pretty substantial problems for our government’s policy of federalism.
The Internet Tax Freedom Act seems to give the federal government huge authority over the states. The federal government is taking the state government’s right to tax away from them. The overpowering effect the federal government is having on the local and state governments is a clear manipulation of the federalist system. This tax act is one of the many examples that could be the end of federalism as it has been come to be known. The reason behind this is the fact that there have been more than a few instances where the federal government has acquired leverage over the state...