Thune, Wyden Reintroduce Bill to Permanently Block Taxes on Internet Access

Press Release

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, today reintroduced the bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act, the House companion to which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by voice vote last Congress.

"For successful 21st century innovators and entrepreneurs, the Internet is their lifeblood," said Thune. "We should be celebrating their success, not taxing the tools they use to achieve it. Our bill, which would permanently ban Internet taxation, would encourage more American innovators and entrepreneurs to use broadband to develop the next big thing, while keeping the Internet open and accessible to consumers across the country. Senator Wyden and I look forward to working with Leader McConnell to bring this bill to the Senate floor."

"I co-wrote the Internet Tax Freedom Act to protect the openness and viability of the Internet as a platform for commerce, speech, and the exchange of ideas," said Wyden. "Without ITFA, access to information would no longer be tax-free. Access to online communication would no longer be tax-free. Access to the global marketplace so crucial to America's economic future would no longer be tax-free. The cost to consumers could easily be hundreds of dollars a year per household. Now is the time to make this law permanent."

The original ITFA, which Wyden co-authored in 1998, put in place a moratorium preventing state and local jurisdictions from imposing new taxes on the Internet and multiple and discriminatory taxes on e-commerce. While Congress has reauthorized the law five times since its enactment, the Thune-Wyden bill would make the moratorium permanent.

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