House Committee Votes For Permanent Internet Tax Ban

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

26 May 2003

The House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law has approved a proposal that would see the moratorium on internet taxes, set to expire this November, becoming permanent.

The measure, which was passed by a voice vote last week, comes in the wake of a plea by two senior Bush administration figures to extend the ban beyond the November deadline.

Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans jointly put their names to a letter sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, warning that the adoption of new taxes could inhibit the growth of high speed internet access. The letter urged that lawmakers "must not slow the roll-out or usage of Internet services by establishing administrative barriers or imposing new access taxes."

Chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Chris Cannon, a Utah Republican, told Reuters that: "I think we've come to a point where we understand what we're doing with the moratorium, and we want to make it permanent," adding that the committee will address the seperate issue of sales tax in relation to internet purchases in due course.

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