Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments Act of 2007

Press Release

INTERNET TAX FREEDOM ACT AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - October 30, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3678.

In a welcome and refreshing instance of bipartisan, bicameral cooperation, the Senate took our bill and improved it. The longer moratorium means that service providers will have more certainty when deciding whether to make critical investments in basic infrastructure of the Internet.

The 7-year extension is longer than any that has ever been approved by any previous Congress. Consideration of this bill today shows that the Democrats in the 110th Congress truly understand the importance of the Internet to our economy.

Equally important, the bill as amended makes absolutely clear that Internet access embraces ancillary services such as e-mail, instant messaging and personal storage capacity. This change removes ambiguity with respect to these services, and thereby encourages robust competition among Internet service providers.

And importantly, today is October 30. By passing the extension of the Internet tax moratorium with ample time for the President to sign the bill into law, we avoid the almost certain disruption that would attend any further delay. Failure to act would be a mistake and a step away from the pledges we made in the Innovation Agenda.

I continue to believe that a permanent ban on the taxation of Internet access is important to maintaining and improving our place in the information economy.

I remain a proud cosponsor of my friend ANNA ESHOO's bill that would have made the moratorium permanent. I will continue to work with her and Mr. Goodlatte to achieve that goal, but I heartily accept H.R. 3678 as a fair compromise between our position and the views of those who are reluctant to entirely abandon the possibility of one day taxing the Internet.

Ultimately, we will reach the legislative conclusion that taxing the Internet is simply a bad idea. Fortunately, this bill buys us enough time to get there and is an important, big step in the right direction.

Aside from supporting expansion of the broadband and innovation, it's also good news for American families that they will not face a new tax burden when they utilize the Internet come November 1. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important and very timely legislation.

I thank the chairwoman of the subcommittee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source