Seven Year Internet Tax Ban Approved by Congress

Wyden says Internet services have sparked revolutions in our ability to communicate.

Salem-News.com

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Our bi-partisan Congress may not agree on very much most of the time, but today they voted unanimously today to extend the moratorium on state and local Internet taxes. It's good news for Internet service providers, wireless carriers, and other Web based companies.

These changes will protect instant messaging and e-mail, including voice and video messaging services as well as personal storage and other video services regardless of who provides them.

The Tuesday morning vote in the U.S. House of Representatives was a surprising 402-0.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden says he has been working hard and is pleased with the support.

“The proposed legislation would have allowed the taxation of many important Internet services that American’s have come to rely on, and would have created a discriminatory tax environment between the providers of Internet services."

Wyden says Internet services have sparked revolutions in our ability to communicate, bringing distant grandparents closer to their grandchildren and giving soldiers in the field a more direct link to home.

“We should all be proud that the Senate worked together to ensure that these valuable services were not encumbered by a web of state, county and local taxes," Wyden said. "In the nine years since Chris Cox and I originally worked to pass the Internet Tax Freedom Act the Internet has thrived free of multiple and discriminatory taxes, serving as an engine of innovation for our economy."

He says the fact that many competitive free services have risen is a testament to the sort of pro-consumer innovation that the moratorium has fostered.