Key Vote NO on Any Attempt to Strip Internet Tax Ban from H.R. 644

On behalf of our over 6.9 million activists nationwide, I urge you to call your senators and ask them to resist any efforts to strip the permanent ban on taxation of internet access from the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, H.R. 644.

Although it was attached to a less-than ideal vehicle, the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) is a crucially important piece of legislation. It would prevent any federal, state, or local taxation of internet service. Given that the internet is the single most empowering for communication and learning in human history, preventing governments from taxing it the way they have other communications services is essential.

First passed in 1998, the original Internet Tax Freedom Act has periodically come up for renewal. The opportunity to make this policy permanent is not to be wasted.

But while the internet tax ban has enjoyed massive bi-partisan support on its own, a few lawmakers and powerful lobbying interests desperately want to attach it to a completely unrelated proposal to create a new internet sales tax structure (such as the Marketplace Fairness Act). Thus, it is expected that senators may attempt to hold a procedural vote to strip the PITFA language from the underlying bill.

FreedomWorks strongly opposes any attempt to block this permanent internet tax ban, and will score against any such vote as a Key Vote when calculating our Congressional Scorecard for 2015. Our scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom and individual liberty.

Sincerely,

Adam Brandon

President & CEO, FreedomWorks