New Bill, Cosponsored By Leahy, Would Permanently Bar Discriminatory Taxes On E-Commerce

February 03, 2000

[Sen. Patrick Leahy today (Thurs., Feb. 3) was part of a bipartisan group of legislators in the U.S. Senate and House who today introduced "The Internet Nondiscrimination Act," a bill to continue and make permanent current law that prevents governments from singling out the Internet for new kinds of taxes. Leahy, known as the "cyber senator" for his longtime work on and interest in Internet issues and for his efforts to promote e-commerce in Vermont, also was a leading supporter of the law that launched the Internet tax moratorium in Oct. 1998. A special task force created by that law, the Advisory Commission of Electronic Commerce, is due to report its recommendations on Internet taxation in April. Following are Leahy's comments about the new bill:]

"Electronic commerce is beginning to blossom, but it is still in its infancy. Stability is important to help it find its potential, and creating new tax categories for the Internet is exactly the wrong thing to do. Internet commerce should not be subject to discriminatory new taxes that do not apply to other commerce. Internet commerce is booming, our moratorium law is working, and we should keep a good thing going and growing. Our bill would not exclude e-commerce from sales taxes and other levies that apply to traditional sales and services.

"Cyberselling is taking off in Vermont and for the rest of the country. Online commerce will be increasingly and especially important to Vermont and other rural states, because the Internet erases the geographical barriers that have tended to isolate our products from larger markets where our products can thrive. This bill will encourage Vermont's online commerce to continue to grow with confidence."