Last week, Illinois based think tank, Heartland Institute, published a blog explaining the importance of passing the Permanent Internet tax Freedom Act (PITFA) before the November 1st deadline. PITFA is a bill drafted by Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, that would permanently extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes. Since the law was first passed in 1998, the moratorium has helped to promote innovation and the Internet by creating a moratorium on state and local taxation of Internet access and on discriminatory taxes on emails and other data. The current law is set to expire November 1, but the House Judiciary Committee recently approved language that would permanently extend the law and prevent Internet access taxes.
Steve Stanek, a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, said it is important to point out that PITFA affects Internet access taxes, not Internet sales taxes. “People need to understand this bill would prohibit taxes on access to the Internet, not taxes on online purchases. The bill deserves strong support because businesses and individuals of all income levels rely on the Internet for so many important activities. Taxing Internet access would make the Internet less affordable, which would make no sense to do,” he said.
However, in their blog, Heartland explained that trying to attach any Internet sales tax proposal to PITFA would be disastrous for the legislation. “While adoption of PITFA is critical, it is also essential for Congress to avoid attaching any extraneous provisions to this bill. For instance, inclusion of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, or Internet sales tax, would represent an unacceptable poison pill’ for taxpayers.”
For more information on PITFA, please click here and visit Heartland Institute.