Help the Internet Tax Ban
It appears that the Democratic leaders have decided to block the permanent ban on taxing internet-access according to Captains Quarters and Congressional Quarterly. The permanent ban appears to have the support of the of the majority of congressmen from both sides of the aisle, but for some reason the leadership won’t let it come to the floor. It’s time for the geeks to get loud and let our legislators know that we don’t want them to cripple what we’re still building.
It’s been estimated that if a ban isn’t kept in place, that states are looking at taxing access in the 17-20% range. This could cripple availability to poor and lower income people giving a further disadvantage when it comes to information, education, lower pricing, and income opportunities. The internet is also our best example of interstate commerce on an individual level. Almost everything done on it crosses state lines in one way or the other. It’s really one of the few types of issues that should be controlled by the feds and not the state governments.
UPDATE: Congressional Quarterly is now reporting that the house passed a watered down, 4 year version of the the tax ban. The Senate has yet to pass anything. If we can get the Senate to pass the permanent ban, the conference committee may have the opportunity to favor the Senate version of the bill. So there’s still hope. Passing the 4 year ban will probably be more difficult in it due to the number of Senators pushing for the permanent ban. Hopefully Harry Reed will cave in on this issue like he has on so many other (and more important) issues since becoming president pro tempore of the Senate.