Florida Considering Taxing Computer Networks

Legal Issues

from the substitute-communications-systems dept

Someone emailed me this article this morning, but thanks to the confusing way in which Biz Journals “email this article” function works, I have no idea who it was, and whether or not it was even intended as a submission. If you’re submitting an article, it’s easier to use our submissions page. It appears that some slightly confused politicians in Florida are trying to set up a tax on local area networks, due to the fact that they are considered “substitute communications systems”. The tax would run at 9.17% – on top of more local taxes that apparently already exist on local area networks. I’m a little confused as to the logistics on this. It’s unclear if the tax is on “the networks” themselves, or on the equipment necessary to create a LAN. Even more confusing, of course, is the rationale. Under what logic does it make sense to tax a company setting up their own local area network? Think of what it will do to all those companies where random employees have decided to set up their own “rogue” WiFi LANs. They’ve suddenly created a tax liability for their company.