June 2008 Archives

Legislators are unique among elected officials because they can be who they are and speak for themselves in their own voice, without the encumbrances of operational responsibilities that come with the territory for the executive branch and most independently elected officials. That makes them natural candidates to blog, and a growing number are. Such was the nature of my conversation with staff writer Pauline Vu for a Stateline.org update on the state of the new legislator's art. Part stump speech, part coffee shop chatter and more than a little stream of consciousness narrative, legislative blogs reflect the personality and world view of these (mostly) free agents - for good or for ill.

Excuse a self-referential reference, but I thought this was pretty good. Vu wrote:

Despite the risks, Taylor of the Center for Digital Government said the best legislative blogs are those written by lawmakers who don't turn to their advisors for approval on every posting. But therein also lies the danger. "It is a legislator who may speak the truth in unvarnished terms...and I suppose depending on your view of how public processes are supposed to work, that brings both promises and pitfalls," he said.

That brought a response from Barrett Marson who runs a blog for "the majority members of the Arizona House of Representatives. Its mostly unvarnished." And it mostly is ... as you can see here.

Overstock.com is suing and Amazon's Jeff Bezos calls the move unconstitutional. On Sunday, June 1, the state of New York ended the experiment that has kept the Internet a sales tax free zone for those online retailers that do not have a physical presence in the state.

As of yesterday, New Yorkers began paying a charge for state and local sales taxes for their online purchases, which amounts to about 8 percent in most parts of the state. It is a high stakes gambit for political subdivisions in the midst of a public sector revenue recession. The change is expected to be worth $50 million to state coffers and another $50 million for counties and some cities that levy local sales taxes. According to published reports, the total take could be as much as $146 million next year.

The change refreshes an old debate about a level competitive environment among online retailers and their brick and mortar counterparts on one hand, and the potential to thwart Internet innovation and development on the other. Clearly, policy makers in one state have decided the Internet is all grown up. Revenue hungry legislators and governors in the other 49 states will be hard pressed to resist the temptation for new money even if, as is the case in New York, officials argue the online sales tax collection scheme is only a more effective means of enforcing use tax payments for out of state purchases. A permanent change at the virtual check out is contingent on yet another trip to the physical courts.