Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

Just when you thought the misguided idea to tax Internet music downloads had died, it has been resuscitated and is back as yet one more bad idea to close a gaping budget deficit.

Assembly Bill 22xxx – a bill re-introduced by a Los Angeles Democrat legislator – would create a 7.25 percent sales tax on all digital downloads, including music, movies, ring tones, games, software and other programs downloaded online.

This is a bad idea that probably won’t get the two-third votes it needs to become law. So the question is: Why re-introduce it under the guise of solving the budget problem?

The reality is that the iTax plan will make nary a difference in closing the budget gap. In fact, according to the State Board of Equalization, it would generate only about $114 million – not even one percent of the deficit.

This idea needs to go away and the Legislature needs to leave the Internet services free of taxation.

The government should not tax internet downloads.

Internet download services, after all, have been a particular boon to music consumers, allowing them to access songs at affordable prices and on demand. Consequently, online music sites like Rhapsody and Yahoo have flourished.

Now, of course, big-government proponents hope to grab a piece of the pie and along the way add a burden to online providers who would be forced to spend more money and time on accounting software and services to make sure California consumers paid their sales taxes.

Consumers wouldn’t fare well either, as they would not only pay the sales taxes but perhaps see the cost of “doing business with Californians” passed on to them.

Taxpayers have said enough is enough in one opinion poll after another.

Still, some Democrats have turned a deaf ear to the protests and still hope to further pick taxpayers’ pockets.

Taxpayers don’t deserve to pay the price of a spendthrift Legislature and Governor. This behavior of “spend today-tax tomorrow” has become a recurring nightmare for California taxpayers (and the reason the state is both broke and has the dubious distinction of being one of the most heavily taxed in the nation) and it must stop.