“Congress votes to extend Internet tax ban”
Source: Market Watch – 10/30/2007
Thoughts: WHY?
No, my question is not “Why was the ban extended.” My question is “Why isn’t the ban permanent?” This is almost a universally welcomed action, as seen in the 402 to 0 vote today in the House of Representatives. So why isn’t the ban permanent? I’ll tell you why, but first, a quick history lesson.
The ban was originally signed into law back in 1998. The law banned taxes on access to the internet (it does not ban sales taxes on goods which would the consumer would normally pay if they bought the item in person or through mail-order) and extended three more times since then. However, there are still a few states that can charge taxes on access since they were doing so before the law was passed. With the extension today, new taxes on Internet access has been banned for 16 years.
16 years. That seems like a long time, don’t you think? So why isn’t it a permanent ban? Because Democratic Party leaders refused to bring it up for a vote. The only reason why is that they hope to tax Internet access at some point in the future. There is no other reason why. Hopefully in 2014 there are enough common sense politicians in Congress to make this permanent once and for all.
Article: “Congress votes to extend Internet tax ban”
By William L. Watts
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Internet-access taxes and other Web-related levies would remain prohibited through 2014, according to legislation that cleared the House without opposition Tuesday.
While an Internet tax ban has long had wide bipartisan support, the looming expiration date spurred a furious round of last-minute dealmaking that resulted in a seven-year extension of the ban. An existing moratorium is due to expire Thursday.
The House voted 402 to 0 to approve the bill; the Senate cleared the bill late last week by voice vote. The original House version of the bill had extended the moratorium by four years.
“I think it’s a cause for celebration,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat whose district includes much of Silicon Valley. “We’re coming in right under the wire. … This is going to continue to spur innovation and will advance our goal of broadband for everyone in the United States.”
Eshoo, who had sponsored a bill calling for a permanent moratorium, was one of only two members to oppose the original version of the House legislation, saying that it didn’t offer strong enough protections against potential Web-related taxes.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said that changes made to the package in the Senate will shield a range of services, including instant messaging and email, as well as related voice- and video-messaging services, personal storage and other video services from taxation.
The final package won applause from the Don’t Tax Our Web Coalition, a group made up of numerous telecommunications firms, technology firms and trade associations.
Although the group had been pressing for a permanent moratorium, the seven-year extension was a welcome result, said Broderick Johnson, a spokesman for the coalition.
“The fact that this is the longest extension that we’ve ever seen plus there are some very important clarifications in the final bill that will help protect the Internet from taxation is a great result,” Johnson added.
The National Governors Association issued a statement welcoming the bill. The group has fought efforts to make the moratorium permanent, saying that it should be revisited periodically to correct any unforeseen consequences.
(Read the rest of the article here.)
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