In a letter to Chairman James Sensenbrenner, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and Treasury Secretary John Snow urged the House Judiciary Committee to quickly schedule consideration of legislation that would extend the Internet tax moratorium. Congress would have to move quickly to pass legislation and get it to the president before the current moratorium expires on Nov 1.
"Secretary Evans and Secretary Snow deserve praise for championing this important issue for the American consumer and the entire business community," said ITI President Rhett Dawson. "The promise of the Internet and the vast potential of the information age will only be realized by American users - moms, dads, kids - and small business owners if they have unencumbered access to innovative services like distance learning, telemedicine, e-business, and e-government."
The moratorium does not apply to the taxation of goods and services sold on the Internet. It applies only to fees for access to the Internet. In the current fiscal crisis an increasing number of states have been calling for the ability to levy taxes on Internet sales. The National Governors Association is among the advocates of a sales tax and is opposed to continuing the moratorium.
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) represents the top U.S. providers of information technology products and services. ITI is the voice of the high tech community, advocating policies that advance U.S. leadership in technology and innovation; open access to new and emerging markets; support e-commerce expansion; protect consumer choice; and enhance the global competitiveness of its member companies.
ITI member companies include Accenture, Agilent Technologies, AOL Time Warner, Apple, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, Corning, Dell, Eastman Kodak, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, Microsoft, Motorola, National Semiconductor, NCR, Oracle, Panasonic, SGI, Sony Electronics, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, Tektronix and Unisys.
News provided courtesy of PriorityWatch, a service of the Center for Digital Government
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute providing industry, government, and education leaders with decision support, research and services to help them effectively incorporate new technologies in the 21st century.
PriorityWatch offers in-depth alerts, digests, and analysis on legislative and budgetary trends related to information technology in the public sector, providing an aggregated view of legislative, policy and administrative developments throughout the United States.
