Center Launches Television Advertising Campaign

In the release reproduced here, the Center for Individual Freedom announced the launching of an advertising campaign urging Congress to extend the Internet tax moratorium and oppose efforts by states to force out-of-state merchants to collect sales and use taxes on Internet purchases.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2001

Contact: Eric Schippers
Contact: 703-535-5836

CIF LAUNCHES ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN TO EXTEND INTERNET TAX MORATORIUM

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Center for Individual Freedom (CIF) today launched a television advertising campaign urging Congress to extend the Internet tax moratorium and oppose efforts by states to force out-of-state merchants to collect sales and use taxes on Internet purchases.

Congress passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) in 1998, to protect the Internet and e-commerce from an inconsistent patchwork of taxes imposed by thousands of taxing jurisdictions across the country. Commonly referred to as the "Internet tax moratorium," ITFA prohibits Internet access taxes, multiple taxation of a single transaction by more than one taxing jurisdiction and discriminatory taxes that do not apply to offline purchases. Without Congressional action, the moratorium will expire on October 21.

"CIF’s ‘No New Internet Tax’ commercial, currently running in the Washington, D.C. area and in major media markets nationwide, is designed to warn Internet users and high-tech companies and employees of the impending deadline for the Internet tax moratorium," said Eric Schippers, Executive Director of CIF. "It also urges concerned viewers to call Congress and register their opposition to new Internet taxes."

An unconventional political ad, the CIF commercial was designed with high-tech, Internet-savvy viewers in mind. Utilizing the latest digital production techniques and cutting-edge special effects, CIF hopes to draw in new audiences to the grassroots war over Internet taxation.

To complement its media advertising efforts, CIF has designed a special section of its website http://www.cfif.org/legis/federal/internet/tax/index.html for Internet users to get more actively involved in the issue. The innovative site enables visitors to view the commercial online, read in-depth analyses of the debate and contact their elected officials in Washington.

"As the deadline for the moratorium approaches, it is urgent that Internet users, and companies that depend on e-commerce, act now to fight discriminatory taxes that would hamper the Internet’s growth," said Schippers. "With the technology sector experiencing shrinking profits and massive job cuts, now is not the time to be placing a heavy tax burden on this fledgling industry."

CIF’s campaign comes at a time when many of the nation’s governors are lobbying Congress for a "simplified and streamlined" sales tax system that would enable them to force remote merchants to collect and remit sales taxes on purchases made by their citizens.

"The financial burden on remote businesses to collect and remit states’ sales and use taxes would result in a de facto tax increase on the consumer, in addition to the actual taxes already owed," said Schippers. "The failure of the states to collect sales and use taxes from their citizens on online purchases is simply that -- the failure of the states. It should not be the role of Congress to provide a mechanism for states to shift their tax collection burden to out-of-state retailers. Congress’ role should be to create a stable business climate that will encourage interstate commerce and growth in the overall economy."

Founded in 1998, the Center for Individual Freedom is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with the mission to protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. As free-market advocates, the Center opposes over-burdensome state and federal regulations and taxing regimes that will impede the evolution of e-commerce.

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