I know what you’re thinking: you can’t tax email under current law. The idea that you can’t tax email is often linked to the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA). Under ITFA, the internet is supposed to be tax-free. Since email is part of the internet, it would follow that you can’t tax email.

While it’s true that ITFA currently prohibits taxing email (that’s been the rule since 1998), it’s not a permanent law. Rather, it’s simply a moratorium and can be voted up or down at any time. And, if no vote happens at all, the law will simply fade away. On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed H.R. 83 (downloads as pdf) offering an extension on ITFA – but just through September 2015. After that time, it’s perfectly legal to tax email. And that’s piquing the interest of some on the Hill.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance recently held a hearing to discuss the possibility of imposing such a tax, with many on the committee noting that it would be “irresponsible” not to try and tax absolutely everything.

The discussions that preceded a vote on the bill were enlightening. The latest data from the Radicati Group estimates that 196.4 billion emails will be sent/received every day in 2015 with that number slated to increase to 201.4 billion by 2016. Clearly, a tax of a single penny on each email would bring in significant revenue to Treasury coffers. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) urged his fellow committee members to “Just do the math,” pausing and adding, “Literally, do the math. My calculator can’t do billions.”

After several minutes and several feet of calculator ticker tape later, members of the committee agreed that the tax would raise “a lot of money.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphi...-tax-on-email/