Permanent Internet Tax Ban Derailed on Capitol Hill

Despite large bipartisan majorities in both Chambers, its looking like Congress won’t even get to consider a permanent ban on discriminatory taxes on internet access. That’s a shame, because the moratorium (which has been in place more or less since 1998) is a clear economic winner, and should become permanent law. Another multi-year extension just keeps uncertainty in the high-tech market.

Here’s a video montage from a Republican Senate press conference earlier this week calling for a permanent moratorium. Most Republicans support a permanent moratorium, but to be fair, other GOP Senators– namely, Sens. Lamar Alexander and George Voinovich– are among the biggest opponents of a permanent ban on internet access taxes. Indeed, not making the moratorium permanent was one of the more inexcusable failings of the Republican 108th or even 109th Congresses, so it looks like we’ll be having this unnecessary fight over the moratorium for years to come. (Indeed, the Democrat 110th Congress may even pass a longer extension than the 108th Congress!)