Liberty Conference

The following is the text of a letter from the National Taxpayers Union to the the United States Senate.  The letter contains a claim of the potential for equal protections being weaked without Senate action.  How does the letter link Internet taxes to equal protections?

March 17, 2004

An Open Letter to the U.S. Senate: S. 150, not S. 2084, Provides Real Protection for Internet Users. Pass a Permanent Internet Tax Ban Today!

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the 350,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I urge you to work for immediate passage of S. 150, The Internet Tax Non-Discrimination Act. As you know, this important legislation would continue the prohibition on taxes levied by state and local governments on Internet access, and on taxes that treat sales made over the Internet differently from other sales. Unfortunately, in spite of bipartisan support and passage by the House, the previous ban on Internet taxes expired on November 1, 2003.

A substitute bill, S. 2084, the Internet Tax Ban Extension and Improvement Act being offered by Senators Carper and Alexander, is inadequate, not only because it is temporary, but also because it would carve out a new exemption to the tax ban for states to tax DSL (or digital subscriber line) service. The DSL exemption could create a new “telephone-like” tax and cost some consumers up to $150 a year. The Carper-Alexander bill could eventually make Internet access more expensive for consumers and small-business owners.

Congress has passed temporary bans on Internet taxes similar to S. 150 in recent years, but some in the Senate, particularly those representing states that would lose their “grandfathered” status which allows them to collect Internet access taxes, have pushed hard to weaken and limit the scope of the moratorium. Rather than passing S. 2084 and allowing state and local officials to tax everything from email to Internet access in two years, the Senate should pass S. 150 to ensure that taxpayers who go online will never be hit with unfair or “double” taxation.

The time for debate and delay of this important tax ban has passed. The only way to truly safeguard equal protection under the law for Internet users is by voting for S. 150. NTU and its members will be watching Senators’ votes on this important issue. Any roll-call votes in favor of S. 150 and against S. 2084 will be weighted heavily in our annual rating of Congress.

Sincerely,

Paul J. Gessing
Director of Government Affairs