The Direct Marketing Association came out against legislation, proposed Tuesday, which would extend the moratorium on Internet-access taxes. The DMA is opposed to language in the legislation that calls for tax simplification.
Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Patrick Leahy and Republican Sen. John McCain are the primary sponsors of Senate Bill 1481, which would extend for two years the ban on Internet access taxes.
The moratorium on the bill is set to expire Oct. 21. Extending the moratorium would keep people from paying a tax to access the Internet through an Internet service provider.
H. Robert Wientzen, CEO of the DMA, sent a Call to Action to members Wednesday evening suggesting they contact their senators to register support of the Internet tax moratorium “for as long as possible, preferably four years, but no less than two years.”
“The Internet access tax moratorium issue and the remote sales tax issue are distinct concerns and, therefore, must be dealt with separately by Congress,” Wientzen said to tell senators.
The DMA is worried that tax simplification issues will keep the extension of the moratorium from passing, and that the tax-simplification language should be removed from proposed legislation.
“Why do you need to gum up the works with a call for simplification at all, when the immediate need is to extend the moratorium?” said Lou Mastria, director of public and international affairs at the DMA, New York.
The DMA instead supports S228, a bill sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).
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