Bush administration endorses eternal Net tax ban

A soon-to-expire ban on Internet access taxes must be made permanent by Congress, two cabinet-level Bush administration officials urged Wednesday.

In a joint statement, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Treasury Department Secretary Henry Paulson said the "vast potential economic and social benefits of electronic commerce" depend on immortalizing an almost decade-old moratorium on Internet access taxes and discriminatory e-commerce taxes.

Commerce Secretary Gutierrez

"Preventing the taxation of Internet access will help sustain an environment for innovation, ensure that consumers continue to have affordable access to the Internet, especially high-speed Internet, and strengthen the foundations of electronic commerce as a vital and growing part of our economy," they said.

The officials' statement is likely geared toward lighting a fire under a U.S. Senate committee scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill that would merely extend the tax ban for four more years, as opposed to making it everlasting. President Bush in the past has also advocated for the tax halt.

Treasury Secretary Paulson

If the moratorium is allowed to expire on November 1, states would be allowed to levy taxes on digital subscriber line, cable modem, wireless and even BlackBerry-type data services. They would also be free to charge different tax rates for goods sold on the Internet and goods sold offline. It's unclear how many states would have immediate plans to enact such laws, though, if the ban lapses.

Because none of the pending permanent tax ban bills has been called up for a vote in the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, a temporary extension appears more likely. That approach represents a compromise of sorts with state and local officials who have balked at the idea of never having the opportunity to revisit the potential for Internet access taxes as a revenue source. (Some states are still allowed to levy such fees because of "grandfather" provisions in existing law.)

Both Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who leads that Senate panel, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who exercises ultimate control over the Senate's voting schedule, have pledged to renew the ban, but neither has gone so far as to call for making it permanent--in contrast to some of their Republican colleagues on the chamber's High Tech Task Force.

[ferretboy88]

I'm sure the democrats would do the same.

Democrats never found a new way to tax that they didn't like. I'm
sure both parties would love to keep the net tax.

[birdtford]

Missed the point

I think you missed the point. It's not keeping a net tax, it's keeping a BAN on net taxes.

[abbottpark]

More propaganda from Bush

This is just more propaganda more Bush. I seriously doubt they will do anything. They will allow this to expire and the states who are even more money hungry will start taxing the internet.

[The_Decider]

There is no net tax

So how could anyone keep it?

RTFA

[`WarpKat]

Brownie Points Accumulating!

For all of its fallacies and incompetence, the Bush Administration just scored 1/4 brownie point with me.

^_^

[The_Decider]

That is generous

In 7 years of lies and corruption that has started the US down the path to totalitarianism, and of course the total incompetance, it takes a bit more to earn praise.

I would give him 1/10000000000000 of a brownie point, and I fear that is too generous as well.

[Jane in KC]

Net Tax Ban

Yes! I don't know if anything on earth is eternal, especially tax bans, but it's a step in the right direction.

[spothannah]

Brownie Points

Same here.