The House, with unusual speed, is expected this week to approve a bill to extend the current moratorium on new Internet taxes by five years.
That vote, which would send the measure to the Senate for consideration, could come as early as today.
The moratorium, which went into effect on Oct. 21, 1998, is due to expire on Oct. 21, 2001. The legislation would extend that moratorium until Oct. 21, 2006.
Minutes after last week’s 29-8 vote, the Judiciary Committee released the Internet Nondiscrimination Act (HR-3709) to the full House for consideration, Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-TX) ordered it placed on this week’s agenda.
Armey said in a statement that the Judiciary Committee’s vote “sends a clear message to the American people -we’re going to keep the Internet tax-free.”
Besides extending the tax moratorium, the bill, sponsored by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) and its companion in the Senate, sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), eliminates a provision in the original legislation that would have allowed several states to continue taxing certain Internet-related transactions.
Cox and Wyden said passage of their legislation would help to spur the Internet’s continued growth.
Meantime, the Judiciary Committee’s commercial and administrative law subcommittee, chaired by Rep. George Gekas (R-PA), plans to hold a series of hearing on Internet taxes. the first hearing is scheduled for May 17.
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