Floor Statement on the
Internet Non-discrimination and Sales Tax Simplification Act

February 8, 2001

I am pleased to join with Senator Wyden and Representative Cox to support electronic commerce by keeping it free from discriminatory state and local taxes.

The Internet has changed the way we do business. Today, businesses can sell their goods and services all over the world in the blink of an eye. E-commerce has created new markets, new efficiencies and new products.

The growth of electronic commerce is everywhere, including my home state of Vermont. Today, hundreds of Vermont businesses are selling online, ranging from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to Al’s Snowmobile Parts Warehouse to Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream.

These Vermont cybersellers are of all sizes and customer bases, from Main Street merchants to boutique entrepreneurs to a couple of famous ex-hippies who make great ice cream.

But what Vermont online sellers have in common is that Internet commerce allows them to erase the geographic barriers that historically limited our access to major markets. With the power of the Internet, Vermonters can sell their products and services anywhere, anytime.

Although electronic commerce is beginning to blossom, it is still in its infancy. Stability is key to reaching its full potential, and creating new tax categories for the Internet is exactly the wrong thing to do.

E-commerce should not be subject to new taxes that do not apply to other commerce.

Indeed, without the current moratorium, there are 30,000 different jurisdictions around the country that could levy discriminatory or multiple Internet taxes on E-commerce. We need to continue the moratorium to provide the stability necessary for electronic commerce to flourish.

Let’s not allow the future of electronic commerce -- with its great potential to expand the markets of Main Street businesses -- to be crushed by the weight of discriminatory taxation.

While Congress should continue to prevent discriminatory e-commerce taxes, we also need a national policy to make sure that the traditional state and local sales taxes on Internet sales are applied and collected fairly and uniformly.

Our bill encourages states to simplify their sales tax rules and to develop national standards on E-commerce. Our bill also authorizes Congress to consider legislation under fast-track procedures to require sellers to collect sales taxes on goods and services sold over the Internet.

Electronic commerce is booming, our moratorium law is working, and we should keep a good thing going and growing.