Massachusetts Set To Repeal Controversial IT Services Tax 122
Nerval's Lobster writes "Massachusetts lawmakers have agreed to repeal a six-week-old tax on computer services that generated such outrage that even the governor who proposed the tax in January now opposes it. The 6.25 percent sales tax on 'computer system design services' was proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick in January, but got little notice before it was slipped in mid-July into a $500 million supplementary funding bill meant to pay for improvements in the state's public transportation system. It was passed by the legislature with almost no debate, was signed into law by the governor with little public outrage, and went into effect – theoretically – July 31. IT businesses in the state used social media, business associations and angry letters to both lawmakers and local media to describe problems with the tax and show their opposition. Confusion over what qualifies as a 'computer system design service' and how to actually implement the tax – which was supposed to generate $161 million in revenue for the state – has been such a challenge to implement that the state has yet to collect a dime. The main logistical problem is figuring out what is covered and what isn't: data access, data processing and 'information services,' for example, are not taxed, which exempts most hosting, cloud, outsourcing and remote-access monitoring or security services. Democratic leaders announced Sept. 12 they would support repeal of the tax, which could be completed within weeks. 'It is now evident that the impact of the tax is broader than any of us ever anticipated or intended,' according to Mass. Senate President Therese Murray at a press conference Sept. 12."
Re:Idiots (Score:5, Insightful)
Death and Taxes (Score:2, Insightful)
Death and Taxes. Two things you can always rely on.
Oh, and more NSA spying.
Death, Taxes and NSA spying. Three things you can always rely on.
Stop passing the law to find out what's in it (Score:5, Insightful)
I swear, the way laws get passed in this country is like pushing any commit from a developer straight into production based on its commit message, without even a code review process.
Re:Stop passing the law to find out what's in it (Score:5, Insightful)
Massachusetts is a One Party State (Score:2, Insightful)
In Massachusetts, one party is completely dominant, to the point that 81% of the House, 90% of the Senate, and the Governor are all from the same party. It doesn't matter which party, this kind of stupidity is rampant in one party states because there is little criticism in most areas of law until after the fact. Utah has similar numbers for the other party, so I imagine the same stupidity happens there.
Software is big business in MA, and one of the few growth areas outside of biotech. Did we want to kill a golden goose?
As someone from Massachusetts (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sounds about right... (Score:2, Insightful)
But without even knowing what it was taxing, they determined it would add $161 million in revenue!