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Pro-Tax
Coalition Wrong to Tax Internet Contact: Brandee Freeman WASHINGTON –– Today, Citizens for a Sound Economy is opposing the
pro-tax coalition of state and local representatives who have joined
forces with retail giants and billionaire developers to tax the Internet.
Rather than clandestine meetings and new taxing authority, CSE
proposes: Unleash the full potential of the high-tech economy for consumers by
keeping the Internet free from taxation. The Internet economy accounts
for nearly one-third of our nations economic growth. It is estimated that
if taxes were applied to online sales, growth in the technology sector
would be slowed by 24 percent. The government must be stopped from taxing
to death the goose that laid the golden egg. We should be repealing taxes on the Internet, not creating new
ones. Consumers pay between 20 percent and 40 percent in taxes on
communications services – tax rates similar to those on “sin” taxes. Each
month consumers pay a phone tax originally enacted in 1898 to pay for the
Spanish-American War. This tax costs consumers nearly $6 billion every
year. These regressive taxes on Internet access are the cause of the
“digital divide.” New taxes will only widen that divide. We can give consumers the full benefits of high technology without
harming Main Street or state governments. State revenues have doubled
in the past 10 years because of the growth of the Internet economy.
Internet sales are not a direct threat to traditional brick-and-mortar
businesses. During the 1999 holiday season, 86 percent of Americans
visited a retail mall to make a purchase, 42 percent used a catalog, and
only 10 percent went online to shop for gifts. Americans spend billions of
dollars and hours at malls and shops each year. CSE has launched an online petition campaign to permanently ban
taxation of the Internet. This campaign will send a strong message to
elected officials throughout the country that the American people want the
Internet free from taxation. Visit http://www.cse.org/petition/index.htmland
sign our No Internet Tax petition today!
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