Democrats: Taxing and Regulating the Internet

George C. Landrith

The Democratic majority in Congress is up to their old tricks -- taxing and regulating. Democratic leaders are blocking legislation that would stop new and discriminatory taxes on the Internet. There has been a moratorium on such taxes on the Internet since the 1990s when the Republicans were running Congress. But Democrats like taxes and they see new taxes on the Internet as a potential gold mine. Just remember, however, the gold Democrats want to mine will come from your pockets.

Additionally, Democrats in Congress are pushing the so-called Net-Neutrality regulation of the Internet. Those supporting Net-Neutrality regulation say they simply want to make sure that the internet is available to everyone on an equal basis. But that isn’t currently a problem and it isn’t likely to become one. The Internet isn’t perfect. But there is not a problem with a lack of openness on the Internet. Thus, Net-Neutrality is a solution in search of a problem.

Not much has changed since Ronald Reagan said that liberal’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” That is precisely what the Democratic leadership is trying to do to the Internet. They want to tax it and regulate it. Once they have slowed technological advances and the investment of billions of dollars in new Internet infrastructure, they will gladly tax you more so that they can subsidize and revive the very thing they killed off with their taxes and regulation in the first place.

The Democrat’s plan is bad for taxpayers and worse for consumers. It will cost consumers money now and taxpayers later. To make matters worse, it will slow the growth and expansion of new technology. The Internet has grown dramatically in the last decade -- in no small part due to the fact that government has kept its hands off the Internet. As a result, the Internet is no longer just a way to read the news or send e-mail. We can listen to music, radio, television, and movies via the Internet. We can do banking and send photos from our camera to the photo store. The Internet is the world’s largest reference library. It even provides an alternative for cheaper phone service and the ability to call all over the world for only a few pennies a minute. This didn’t happened because of Democratic regulation. It happened because entrepreneurs were permitted to invest, test and deploy new technologies. And we are all winners as a result.

Net Neutrality is a great name. Who could be against neutrality on the Internet? But, Net Neutrality is not really about guaranteeing neutrality. It is actually about putting big government regulators in charge of the Internet. The beauty of the Internet is that it is vast and open and no one person or entity controls it. If you want a walled-garden experience with complete safety for your children, there are providers who will deliver exactly that. If you want everything the web has to offer, there are also countless providers offering that service too. Competition has provided consumers with a wide-variety of options. Additionally, as video and movies become more available on the Internet, reliability and bandwidth will become more important. Shouldn’t we unleash the inventive mind and the entrepreneurial spirit to find the best ways to accomplish this? Do we really want government regulators in charge of the next generation of Internet innovation?

The question Americans need to answer is -- who do you trust to continue the tremendous growth of Internet technology? Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid? Or the thousands of entrepreneurial and high tech companies risking their own ideas and their own resources in a competitive marketplace in hopes of bringing the next breakthrough technology to consumers? The answer is an easy one. Government needs to keep out of the way. Government bureaucrats will only impede the development of new technology. To Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their allies in Congress, Americans must stand up and loudly say, “Keep your taxes and regulatory burdens off the Internet.”

###

Mr. Landrith is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was Business Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics. He had a successful law practice in business and litigation. In 1994 and 1996, Mr. Landrith was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's Fifth Congressional District. He served on the Albemarle County School Board. Mr. Landrith is an adjunct professor at the George Mason School of Law. He is recognized as an authority on constitutional law and jurisprudence, federalism, global warming, and property rights.

george@ff.org