Communications

During a panel discussion hosted by Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, research group president Tom Giovanetti said there’s no conflict between asking the FCC to limit local cable regulators’ authority and advocating for smaller government.

The FCC seeks to “limit municipal greed” with a “pro-consumer move” that “simply enforces the intention of federal law to limit the financial demands municipalities can make of cable providers,” wrote IPI president Tom Giovanetti. Some cities place a franchise fee on internet services, prohibited by the Internet Tax Freedom Act, he said: “When government imposes on companies, they end up being passed along” to consumers “in the form of higher prices.” 

It’s unclear how the new ruling will effect smaller sellers, but Institute for Policy Innovation president Tom Giovanetti is in the camp of those that sees it as a big problem for them.

“In today’s Wayfair decision, the Supreme Court overturned 25 years of its own precedent and decided that states will be able to assess sales taxes on internet transactions, siding with the state of South Dakota against Wayfair and other online sellers," said IPI president Tom Giovanetti, who also sounded ready to throw some tea overboard.

“The decision leaves e-commerce and especially small sellers extremely vulnerable to states gluttonous for tax revenue particularly from consumers and businesses with no representation in their state,” said Tom Giovanetti, president of the Institute for Policy Innovation.

“The decision leaves e-commerce and especially small sellers extremely vulnerable to states gluttonous for tax revenue particularly from consumers and businesses with no presence in their state,” IPI president Tom Giovanetti said in a statement.

In Thursday’s Wayfair decision, the Supreme Court overturned 25 years of its own precedent and decided that states will be able to assess sales taxes on internet transactions, siding with the state of South Dakota against Wayfair and other online sellers.

If South Dakota wins, all of us may confront tax demands from states and localities we've never visited and have nothing to do with.

Any notion that the Senate is the more deliberate and prudent of the two bodies of Congress should be discarded after today’s vote to misuse the Congressional Review Act to re-impose 1930s-era federal regulations on internet providers. 

The U.S. Senate will shortly face an attempt by Democrats to misuse the Congressional Review Act  to re-impose Title II regulations on internet service providers (ISPs).  And while this divisive, grandstanding approach will likely fail and even backfire, the ploy shows proponents’ determination to put the federal government back in charge of micromanaging the Internet.