Alexandria,
Va. With the Internet Tax Moratorium set to expire on
November 1, the Center for Individual Freedom today applauded the
Senate Commerce Committee for holding a hearing on two pieces of
legislation S. 52, sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR),
and S. 150, sponsored by Senator George Allen (R-VA) that
would make permanent the ban on multiple and discriminatory e-commerce
taxes and Internet access taxes.
"Despite
recent setbacks in the technology industry, the Internet remains
a remarkable resource for information and expanded commerce essential
to individual freedom and a vibrant economy," said Jeffrey Mazzella,
the Center's Sr. Vice President of Legislative Affairs. "Making
the moratorium permanent will ensure the Internet and e-commerce
continue to thrive, while ending once and for all the deleterious
public policy temptations of state tax officials and money-hungry
governors who see the Internet as nothing more than an opportunity
to pick the pockets of consumers."
While
the Center expressed its ardent support for both the Wyden and Allen
bills, which are nearly identical, it cautioned all Senators against
a growing effort by the states and some in Congress, led by "Internet
Tax Man" Byron Dorgan (D-ND), to tie the moratorium to the separate
and more controversial issue of sales and use tax "simplification."
By agreeing to "simplify" their sales and use tax rates, states
are hoping to receive Congress' approval to expand their taxing
jurisdictions and force out-of-state merchants to collect and remit
sales and use taxes for them something currently prohibited
without Congressional approval by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992
Quill decision.
"Any
effort to create such an interstate tax cartel works contrary to
the founding principle of tax competition between the states," said
Mazzella. "This would be the first step toward the creation of
a de facto national sales tax, with states colluding to stick
it to consumers and leaving small businesses with no place to turn."
In
2001, the Center ran ads branding Senator Dorgan the "Internet Tax
Man," as his efforts to tie the "simplification" issue to the popular
moratorium led to its temporary expiration. He has indicated that
he will attempt to tie the two issues together again this year.
"The
two issues are separate, and should stay that way. If the Internet
Tax Man believes otherwise, we stand ready to defeat him once again,"
Mazzella concluded.
The
Center for Individual Freedom is a nonpartisan, constitutional advocacy
group that fights to protect individual freedoms and rights in the
legal, legislative and educational arenas.
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