Sarkozy proposes new internet tax
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France's President Nicolas Sarkozy suggests new taxes on internet and mobile phone use to fund advert-free TV.
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France announced plans Tuesday to spend over 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) on tax breaks and other incentives to encourage companies to keep jobs in the country rather than going abroad.
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The new government of President Nicolas Sarkozy is pondering whether to allow free access to the permanent collections of major French museums.
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(InfoWorld) - Three Republican U.S. senators on Thursday called on Congress to pass a permanent Internet tax ban before a moratorium expires Nov. 1. The current Internet tax moratorium, which Congress has extended twice since 1998, bans taxes on Internet access, as well as other taxes unique to the Internet. It's important for Congress to pass a permanent ban soon before state and local governments begin to tax Internet access, said Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican. Those who wonder what impact Internet taxes could have should look to U.S. telephone and mobile phone bills, where taxes are up to 20 percent of the cost, McCain said. "We cannot allow that to happen to the Internet -- likely the most popular invention since the light bulb," McCain said at a press conference. Several senators, many of them former state governors, have opposed a permanent extension of the tax ban. Earlier this year, Senators Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, and Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, introduced a bill that would narrow the moratorium's definition of Internet access and extend the ban for four years. That bill would close what supporters have called a loophole allowing telecom providers to argue that voice and other services bundled with Internet service shouldn't be taxed. In addition, nine states that were allowed to maintain their Internet taxes would lose a total of up to $120 million a year under a House of Representatives version of the moratorium extension, The National Governors Association has argued. The House version of the moratorium bill strips these states' exemptions. If Congress makes the ban permanent, nothing would stop Internet providers from trying to expand the number of untaxed services, David Quam, director of federal relations for The National Governors Association, said in June. "The temporary provision keeps everyone honest," Quam said then. But Senator John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, argued Thursday that a permanent ban is needed. If there's a problem with bundled services, that can be worked out in the bill, he said. The Internet is "critically important to interstate and global commerce," Sununu said. "It makes no sense to have a national and global communications and business network to be subject to taxes by every state, city, and county in the country." The news conference came a day after the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, an advocacy group, sent letters to Congress calling on lawmakers to extend the tax ban. New Internet taxes would hurt telecommuters and home-based businesses, the group said. Supporters of a permanent ban say it will help more U.S. residents connect to the Internet, a policy goal of many lawmakers. Asked if they would support another temporary tax ban, the three Republicans rejected that option. "If it's the right thing to do, we ought to make it permanent," said Senator Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican.
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France could tax new computer, television  and mobile phone sales by 1 to 2 percent to help fund its  state-owned TV channels, Les Echos newspaper reported on  Thursday.
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French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy unveils his first and only budget on Wednesday, hoping to leave his mark by holding down spending and bringing France back inside EU deficit limits for the first time in four years.
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He first threatened and then charmed, but either way French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy drew little support for his plans to harmonize corporate taxes in the European Union during a tour of new member ...
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France's President Sarkozy calls for taxes to hit polluters and for French use of pesticides to be halved.
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The day before a preliminary Senate vote to extend a soon-to-expire prohibition on Internet access taxes, Commerce and Treasury chiefs urge something more lasting.
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Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and  Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez on Thursday urged the  Senate to make permanent the moratorium on taxes for Internet  access and electronic commerce.
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The U.S. Senate has passed legislation that would extend a moratorium on Internet access taxes for seven years, giving supporters hope that an extension will be signed into law before the current moratorium expires Nov. 1.The Senate late Thursday passed the seven-year extension on a voice vote. The moratorium would extend the ban on Internet-only taxes, such as access and &quot;bit&quot; taxes on information as it travels through a taxing jurisdiction. The Senate passed an amended version of a House of Representatives bill, the awkwardly named Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act.The House passed a four-year Internet tax moratorium&#160;earlier this month. The two chambers will have to reconcile the two versions of the moratorium before sending the legislation to U.S. President George Bush to be signed.The Senate&#39;s seven-year extension represented a compromise between a group of senators, many of whom opposed an extension in the past, who wanted a four-year ban, and a second group that wanted a permanent ban.Senators calling for a four-year ban, including Thomas Carper, a Delaware Democrat, and Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, argued that a permanent extension would hurt state and local governments&#39; long-term ability to raise money. Other critics of the ban have raised concerns that a permanent ban would give telecom providers the opportunity to press for tax-exempt status on services such as VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol).&quot;This agreement is a common sense victory both for Internet users and for state and local governments,&quot; Carper and Alexander said in a joint statement. &quot;It continues the moratorium on Internet taxation, avoids unfunded federal mandates on states and cities ... and allows Congress to revisit the issue after seven years.&quot;Supporters of a long-term ban say it encourages broadband adoption, and, by extension, helps drive the U.S. economy.Senator John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican who pushed for a permanent moratorium, also praised the Senate&#39;s action. The amendment crafted by Sununu and Carper, in addition to extending the ban, made some changes to the House bill that were intended to protect e-mail messages and instant messaging from usage taxes, Sununu said.Some critics, including Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, had raised concerns that a Senate moratorium bill would open up e-mail and instant messaging to taxes.&quot;This bill -- a drastic improvement over what came out of the House -- makes a clear statement that taxes on Internet access are wrong for consumers and wrong for the economy,&quot; Sununu said in a statement. &quot;The Senate has made real progress in the name of Internet tax freedom, passing improved legislation that offers more certainty for this national and global communication network.&quot;Wyden, a long-time tax moratorium supporter, also applauded the Senate vote.The changes approved by the Senate will protect instant messaging and e-mail, including voice and video messaging services, Wyden said in a statement.&quot;These services have sparked revolutions in our ability to communicate, bringing distant grandparents closer to their grandchildren and giving our soldiers in the field a more direct link to home,&quot; he added.
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DAVOS, Switzerland  - French President Jacques  Chirac called for a tax to fund the global fight against AIDS  on Wednesday, as new figures showed a modest rise in the number  of patients receiving life-saving drugs in poor nations.
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Lawmakers may vote on Internet tax ban, controversial copyright bills before the end of the year.
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State funding for mosques to counter attempts by extremists to indoctrinate young people on Muslim-dominated areas is urged today by France's most talked-about politician, the finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
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The presidents of Brazil and France called Monday for new efforts to fight poverty in the developing world, including the creation of a controversial international tax, to combat the negative effects of ...
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Congress is poised to extend a ban on taxing Internet access, a move that would please Internet service providers but possibly cost states millions of dollars in lost revenue. -washingtonpost.com
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By JAMEY KEATEN  PARIS - A new law in France makes it a crime for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film real-world violence and distribute the images on the Internet.