ITAA sides with Hill bill on Internet tax ban

The Information Technology Association of America expressed support today for a bipartisan congressional proposal to codify the existing tax ban on Internet access and online sales.

Proposed by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.), the bill would make permanent the current Internet tax ban, which went into effect in 1998 and is set to expire Nov. 1. The law prevents state and local governments from assessing taxes on Internet access, taxing transactions already taxed by another jurisdiction and levying discriminatory taxes that treat Internet purchases differently from other types of sales.

“We thank Sens. Wyden, McCain and Sununu for their strong and sustained leadership on this issue, and call upon their colleagues in both houses to follow suit by passing this measure into law,” said Phil Bond, ITAA’s president and chief executive officer, in a statement released today.

“More than $100 billion a year changes hands over the Internet because retailers and consumers get a fair shake in cyberspace,” Bond said. “Stacking the deck against e-commerce is stacking the deck against growth and prosperity.”

Bond added that new taxes could slow the spread of broadband Internet access. “America is struggling to keep pace with other nations in broadband deployment,” he said. “Now is not the time to dampen demand.”