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Name: Andy Borgogna
From: California
Bio: Senior Staff Engineer with Unisys Corporation
Area of Expertise: Technology Developer/Administrator
Topic: Economic structures
Headline: State governments will learn to mine the Internet
Nutshell: More and more state governments will attepmt to tax sales on the internet as brick-and-mortar stores are replaced with virtual stores.
Vision:In the United States it’s no secret that the individual states are suffering through a large cash shortfall. Part of the problem is the result of sales transactions on the internet that do not generate sales tax revenue. Up to now the federal government has balked at allowing the states to tax internet transactions for purely political reasons. But with the ever-increasing federal deficit Washington will be forced to allow the states to collect revenues to pay for federally mandated programs.
The federal government doesn’t have the funds to pay for the programs, and it is just a matter of time before the political pressure for entitlement programs exceeds the political pressure against taxing sales on the internet.
Date Submitted: November 11, 2004
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