House of Representatives Votes to Abolish House Votes for a Internet Tax Free
The House of Representatives passed legislation to forever abolish taxation of Internet access and abusive electronic commerce tax rates today. The Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA), H.R. 3086 provides a permanent ban to any duty on Internet access from state and federal governments and implements nondiscriminatory rates on e-commerce products and services.
The Internet Tax Freedom Act , implemented in 1998, expires in November. This Act has been reauthorized three times. It was initially created to prevent heavy tax burdens from federal and local governments and prohibit biased taxation of e-commerce. Passage of Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act shows that the House is concerned about protecting constituents frommoney-hungry politicians.
The Senate will now take on the legislation. The Internet tax moratorium in the Senate has 50 co-sponsors. However, some big government senators think the answer to this issue is another temporary extension, believing a future tax on Internet access could be a lucrative source of revenue.
Americans were not born yesterday. Without a permanent end to this taxation, Americans will see greedy state governments taking advantage of an opportunity for new revenue and worse, an opportunity to dip into our digital lives. Further, they could also see prejudiced tax rates on e-commerce, which are set at an average sales tax rate of 17 percent, 12 percent on video services, and 7 percent on general sales tax.
The Internet has flourished because elected officials have largely kept the government out. The Senate now must pass the Internet tax moratorium to keep it that way.