One day after negative reports about a proposed iTunes tax surfaced, Governor Pat Quinn has backed away from the idea.
"We had a meeting with the legislative leaders the other day, we made a list of all the possible things that could happen," Quinn told the Chicago Tribune. "I didn't advocate that. I'm not interested in doing that, frankly."
Under the proposal, the state's 6.25-percent sales tax would be applied to downloaded songs and movies to generate new revenue from an as-yet-untapped source: the Internets.
Taxpayers would have paid about $.62 for a $9.99 album and $.94 for a $14.99 movie.
Illinois was set to make about $10 million annually from the deal, according to estimates.
It's not an original idea: 19 states have imposed similar download taxes, including Indiana, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Kentucky, Mississippi and Washington, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Quinn said that he prefers an income tax hike to the Internet sales tax.
