ANOTHER BILL to keep the Internet free of taxes or other charges has been introduced by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI). Upton’s bill, complementing one sponsored by Sen. Robert Smith (R-NH), would prohibit federal, state, county and local governments from imposing access fees on Internet service providers. The measure has 68 co-sponsors. Smith’s bill, introduced in late January, would abolish the Internet Tax Freedom Act’s three-year moratorium on new Internet taxes, with a permanent ban retroactive to last Sept. 30 when the moratorium went into effect. Upton introduced the bill shortly after he and 20 other members of the House and Senate-including Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee-asked the Federal Communications Commission to clarify its position on Internet access charges. Without it, the letter stated, “there will always be a reason for Internet users to suspect that FCC regulation could be right around the corner.” In another Internet tax action, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties filed a lawsuit challenging the makeup of a congressionally appointed panel to study the Internet tax problem as required by the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
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