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Here's a dirty little secret, though: We already tax the Internet. There are, however, strict limitations on how we do it. The United States decided almost 15 years ago, after a number of Internet tax proposals had been floated in Washington, that most activities online should remain tax-free in order to promote the Internet's commercial and education potential, despite the fact that this robs state and local governments from potentially lucrative revenue streams. Though it varies by state, there are a number of duties in place that show up on the bill from your Internet service provider (ISP) as "service charges." These vary from taxes on access itself to franchise taxes levied on the service providers, but the types of metered tax structures that France has proposed are explicity...