f tax revenues collected by the states, while state income taxes comprise only 33%, according to the federal statistics. Critics of the ITFA say that if states municipalities are not permitted to collect taxes on Internet transactions, they could lose much needed revenue that helps pay for government services such as highway construction and public education. Others say that not collecting sales tax from the Internet is inherently discriminatory since businesses that do not engage in electronic commerce must still charge sales taxes. "It is fundamentally unfair that Main Street retailers should be required to collect a sales tax while Internet and mail order vendors can sell the same goods and not be required to collect a sales tax," argues Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt. Once consumers and businesses become accustomed to tax-free shopping on the Internet, there may be a backlash against attempts to impose sales taxes when the moratorium ends. Government should impose a tax on all items sold over the Internet. The simplest and easiest to implement, would be a flat rate that applies to all states. I think that if there is no tax collected from these sales, each state will start to suffer from lose of revenue that helps pay for some of life's necessities such as roads, education, and law enforcement. I think that Congress knew that there was a problem and by putting a moratorium, it would give them time to come up with some ideas. But by the time they come up with ideas it will be to late. If they do enforce a tax on Internet sales, people will either pay it or start going back to Main Street businesses, then we have a problem because Internet will no longer have the same sale volume. If they do not enforce a tax, I think that the Main Street businesses will either shut their doors or go to the Internet for their sales. In the latter event they will probably still shut their doors and move to an office building. Why have a huge sto...
