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San Jose UUT?


From: Mark Kent <mark () noc mainstreet net>
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:30:26 -0800 (PST)


Looking to fill the NANOG US Thanksgiving void
(as a Canadian in the USA, I have some spare time):

In San Jose, an upstream is charging us this 5% tax:

  http://www2.csjfinance.org/UUT.asp

I think it's bogus, because the tax "applies to intrastate telephone
communications only" and, consistent with the long-standing FCC 128
tariff, Internet circuits are regarded has being interstate and not
intrastate.

But the upstream says:

Our tax advisors at Deloitte have confirmed that we are required to
charge the San Jose User Utility Tax shown on your invoice. 
The Internet Tax Freedom Act exemption is not applicable to our
services as this exemption is for internet access only, not
bandwidth usage.

I think the last sentence is not relevant, but even if it
is relevant, is it correct?   I note that wikipedia says:

This law bars federal, state and local governments from taxing
Internet access and from imposing discriminatory Internet-only
taxes such as bit taxes, BANDWIDTH TAXES, and email taxes.

I know, IANAL, YANAL, Wiki is not a lawyer...  but I figure someone
else must have previously dealt with this (or something very close).

Thanks,
-mark


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