Last week, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) encouraged the Senate to follow the House of Representatives and pass a permanent and clean version of the Internet Tax Freedom Act. The Internet Tax Freedom Act, which bans taxes on Internet access, is set to expire on November 1st if Congress does not act. Although the House passed their bill on July 15th, the Senate introduced a bill that would attach the Marketplace Fairness Act to a 10 year extension of the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
In a recent blog post, CCIA discusses how these two bills are polar opposites and do not belong in the same legislative package. “Linking these two distinct issues is an exercise in legislative hostage taking. To paraphrase Isaac Asimov’s “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent,” legislative linkage is the last refuge of the unconvincing,” wrote CCIA. “Having failed to convince the House to take up the MFA, proponents are holding a gun to the head of the Internet tax moratorium to get what they want. If one has a legitimate claim to something, one usually does not need to engage in blatant coercion. Furthermore, by attaching a bill already passed by their own chamber to a separate bill, Senate MFA proponents are all but telegraphing their admission that they cannot get it enacted through a regular process.”
Read CCIA’s blog post.