Taxes have no place on the Internet

Although most of the major tech news sites have been covering the impending ban on Internet tax for the next seven years, I'm a bit appalled at two facts that have emerged from this most recent bill: there has been very little "mainstream media" coverage and the curernt bill only calls for a ban for the next seven years.

To make matters worse, there's no end to this debacle in sight. An Internet that is tax free should be a mantra of this year's presidential candidates and should be covered on each and every news publication in the country. Why you ask? Because each and every person relies on the Internet, and if access fees jump for the sole purpose of paving roads or hiring more crooked bureaucrats, each and every person will bear that burden.

This is an important issue, folks.

Where is the coverage?

Instead of wasting our time on what Britney Spears is doing tonight or how Dancing with the Stars played out, why isn't the media covering topics that have an impact on the way we live our lives?

Each and every night on the television, we're inundated with news that has little or no bearing on our lives and we're forced to sit through hours of nonsense that do not make us any more informed than a police state.

Now, it's certainly not my intention to get political because I believe politics should have no place in my work. But can someone please explain to me why Bill Clinton playing a saxophone is news?

I totally understand that such important topics as the Iraq war and Southern California fires do (and should) lead the evening news, but why must those stories be followed by crap?

The ban on the Internet tax is one of the most compelling and important bills to cross legislator desks in years. A tax of the Internet would be an utter mistake that could cause even more ridiculous spending on the part of this government at the expense of hard working individuals that rely on the Internet for entertainment, well being, employment, or any combination of those attributes.

Did you know that if this bill is not signed into law by the President, bandwidth access costs could rise by as much as 17 percent? And you thought prices were high now.

A ban for just seven years?

We live in an environment where we're overtaxed and under-rewarded. With grand promises of better education, more paved roads and public works, lawmakers do whatever they can to take our tax money. And unfortunately, we sometimes fall for it.

But when it comes to the Internet, there is no good justification for taxing our access. I hate to get too deep into this discussion, but in my mind, a taxed Internet means less disposable income that can be used on something far more important -- your family.

Sure, at first glance it sounds like a lucrative proposition for the government: almost everyone is using the Internet and if it charges us a nominal fee, who would complain?

Allow me to answer that question loud and clear: I will. And to be quite honest, I hope you would stand with me and protest such a move too.

The Internet must stay free forever. It's that important to the salvation and future of the world as we know it.