electronic books

For Immediate Release: May 13, 2008
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The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has issued a press release on the “Technical Corrections” bill:

The last thing I want to blog about is sales tax, however, there’s a lot of confusion being twittered and blogged around the Nashvilleosphere today about a “technical correction” measure that is working its way through the Tennessee state legislature.

It turns out that the Tennessee Republican Party and the rest of the anti tax crew were a little late to the party on this digital tax scare. Tennessee currently taxes digital downloads, such as songs from iTunes, and have been since the beginning of this calendar year.

Are more taxes on the way? Yes, it’s looking that way. Believe me, you’re not safe until these folks wrap up session.  Governor Bredesen’s Revenue Hounds are always looking for new ways to separate you from your hard-earned dollar and here’s the latest effort.

Bill Hobbs warns us that the state may be set to start taxing activities most of us take for granted:

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen's Department of Revenue is planning to tax your iTunes downloads, and all other digital media you purchase online and download including music videos, movies, news and entertainment programs, music, ringtones and electronic books.

Now that the Atlantic Monthly no longer charges for access, I thought it would be a good idea to link to the September 2000 article titled "The Heavenly Jukebox" by Charles C. Mann. At the time it was published -- years before iTunes was even launched -- the article captured better than any other the potential, pitfalls and issues surrounding digital media.