Internet access taxes have been imposed by ten states, which came as a surprise to a lot of people considering that the taxes are mostly invisible. The taxes were imposed on companies such Comcast and Verizon, the ISPs managing the infrastructure by which the Internet traffic flows. Both companies are passing the taxes to their consumers through higher form of fees and charges.
Internet access taxes have been limited by Congress in 1998, through the Internet Tax Freedom Act, to only 10 states. These states are New Hampshire, North Dakota, Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, South Dakota and Washington. From then on, Congress went back and re-authorized the regulation every few years, since the initial ban was just temporary.
However, with the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, which was passed by Congress a few weeks ago, the law will impose necessary bans. According to Reuters, the 10 states that levied the taxes will have to end by June 30, 2020.
The significance of the Internet to the industry had prompted NAR to become among the biggest advocates in permanently banning and ending the taxes.
Meanwhile, in the news program Voice for Real Estate, a video was shown addressing the concern of real estate professionals regarding the standpoint of risk management in keeping their liability for the photo copyright infringement. This has been a big issue in real estate due to online property photos' ubiquity. If found guilty of violating the copyright, the penalty can be as much as $150,000.
The video also addresses the forthcoming international real estate conference to be held in Cannes, France. NAR, along with the eight associations of REALTORS®, are going to host a large booth during the conference that can boost the investors' interest in the US residential and commercial properties. According to Real Estate License Course, a total of 100 real estate professionals from different countries are participating to connect with other investors around the world.
