Bush Urges Extension Of Net Tax Ban

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

27 April 2004

Speaking at the weekend, President Bush urged Congressional lawmakers to make permanent the ban on internet access taxes, and to extend it to broadband services.

According to reports in the US media, the President suggested that:

"By being an innovative society and promoting innovation, we'll have lasting prosperity."

He went on to suggest that the United States is lagging the international community slightly with regard to the rollout of broadband access, and announced that: "I think we need to kind of accelerate it with good policy."

This follows a bid last week by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz), chairman of the Commerce Committee, to revive a bill banning tax on internet connections which fell in the Senate in 2003.

Citing Congressional officials speaking on condition of anonymity, the Associated Press revealed on Friday that Sen. McCain's proposals would ban internet access taxes for four years.

States that were exempted from the 1998 ban would be given three years to eliminate their taxes, and state authorities which tax high speed DSL connections would be permitted two years to end the levies.

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