by Jake Zelinger

Created on: April 16, 2008

The Government should not monitor or tax the internet. The internet is the embodiment of Free Enterprise, where business can advertise and sell products and also where people can go to be set free or be heard. The internet is the most valuable piece of technology in the modern age. Sure it has it's down sides but all in all the internet has been proven an extremely useful tool. Taxing such a useful tool would be ridiculous on all accounts. First off,the internet is international, no one country owns it, so how could one country tax it. Would there be tariffs for exploring U.K. servers or Albanian web sites? Or would the government simply set up an embargo on all foreign internet sites? Either way it seems unreasonable, although completely legal. The government earns sales tax from most goods purchased on the internet, so taxing the internet itself could be considered extremely greedy. The world doesn't need MORE taxes, especially on something as broad banded (no pun intended) as the internet.

Schools make good use of the internet. (I would know, i happen to be a student)With the public educational budget already so low, taxing the internet would almost destroy some curriculum's and the graduation rate would soon decrease, rapidly. Then you might ask, "Should the government then regulate the public school's websites?" No, the schools themselves set up certain firewalls to prohibit the viewing of content labeled obscene or distasteful so government regulation is unnecessary.

Sure, the legislative body of the United States has the right and power to lay a tax on the internet, but that doesn't mean it needs to. Legalizing Marijuana and taxing its distribution would rake in more money for the Federal Bank then taxing the internet would. With our people paying through the nose for gas and the cost of living steadily rising, taxing the internet would completely disable it in most homes. Without the majority of the population using the internet, our technology and economy will slowly set itself back to the time where there wasn't ANY internet. Commerce would slow down until it just stopped. This is a generation born with the world in their laps, taking it away from them would send us into the dark ages.

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