Keep Internet Access Tax Free!
Share this, call, tweet, Facebook, email, whatever you need to do to tell Congress: Don’t Tax the Internet!
Most Americans pay plenty for Internet access. But watch out — If some in Congress have their way, consumers in Oregon and across America could end up paying hundreds of dollars more to get online every year.
For 17 years a federal law has kept most Americans’ Internet access free from taxes. I co-wrote the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) with former Republican Rep. Christopher Cox of California. So while taxes on wireless services average 17 percent (!) in some places, getting online is blessedly tax free.
The law also bans multiple and discriminatory taxes on digital goods and services. It says cities and states can’t make you pay more taxes on something just because it’s online. This law is bipartisan, and hugely popular in both the House and Senate.
Right now is the best chance in years to make the ban on Internet taxes permanent. A trade enforcement bill that passed the House of Representatives today includes a permanent extension of the tax ban.
Good news, right? Maybe not.
Some Senators are threatening to strip out the Internet tax ban, because they insist on tying it together with a controversial, unrelated bill to expand online sales taxes, called the Marketplace Fairness Act.
The ban on Internet access taxes expires in just a few days, and there’s a good chance this fight over sales taxes could sink the law that has helped the Internet grow and thrive. I’m telling my colleagues to keep these issues separate. Now’s not the time to risk steep new taxes on the growing digital economy.
