Industry and government representatives split over the possibility of collecting taxes on Internet sales, according to reports. According to one study, the United States missed out on $170 million in sales taxes due to untaxed online transactions.
The debates came in the form of several panels that were part of the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, which was held Monday and yesterday at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. Participants debated the merits of collecting fees for World Wide Web access, the implications of taxation on domestic and global economic development, and whether there was any chance of the medium remaining tax-free.
The commission was created by Congress to study the implication of taxing e-commerce purchases, and is changed with making a recommendation to Congress by April 2000. Congress has passed a moratorium on levying new Internet taxes. The moratorium will expire in October 2001.
Aside from Gilmore, participants included Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt; Washington Governor Gary Locke; Dean F. Andal, Commerce Department General Counsel; Andrew Pincus, Assistant Treasury Secretary for International Tax Joseph Guttentag and Robert Novick; AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong; Charles Schwab & Co. CEO David S. Pottruck; Gateway Inc. Chairman Ted Waitt; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; and Stan Sokul of the Association for Interactive Media.
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