Snow And Evans Urge Continuation Of Internet Tax Moratorium

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

19 May 2003

Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans have jointly called on Congress to keep the internet free from taxes by extending the current moratorium, which is due to expire in November.

The two top ranking government officials have jointly put their names to a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, warning that the adoption of new taxes could slow the growth of high speed internet access. The Committee held a hearing on the issue last month, but has yet to vote on the matter.

"Government must not slow the roll-out or usage of Internet services by establishing administrative barriers or imposing new access taxes," Snow and Evans wrote, according to Reuters.

Earlier this year, Democrat Senator Ron Wyden and Republican Representative Chris Cox filed identical bills with the House and the Senate designed to indefinitely extend the moratorium on internet taxation. Sen. Wyden warned of the pitfalls of a lifting of the tax ban in January 2003: "Putting new, unfair internet taxes on the backs of consumers is not the way to fix state and local budget troubles. It could seriously weaken the growing internet economy and take jobs away from folks working for small web companies," the Wall Street Journal quoted him as observing.

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