WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
PIA PIALORSI (202)224-2670
NANCY IVES (202)224-7130

McCAIN BILL ESTABLISHES TAX FREE INTERNET

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- To ensure the continued growth of the Internet, a significant part of the engine fueling our economy, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today introduced a bill to amend the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which was signed into law last year and established a three-year moratorium on some Internet taxes. The McCain bill, S.1611, would make the moratorium on sales and use taxes for e-commerce permanent, and would encourage the establishment of the Internet as a world-wide "tax-free zone."

"Commerce conducted through the Internet is experiencing tremendous growth. This growth helps our nation's economy by creating new jobs and new opportunities for businesses. This legislation will ensure that Internet commerce continues to grow by keeping it free from burdensome, anti-consumer taxation," McCain said.

The bill would do the following:

Make permanent the moratorium on taxation of e-commerce transactions.

Clarify that sales and use taxes on e-commerce transactions is prohibited.

Include a Sense of the Senate that the U.S. Trade Representatives to the World Trade Organization should advocate a "tax-free zone" for the Internet.

"We are at a critical juncture. We can choose to hamper the growth of this vital medium by imposing old ways of thinking that just do not apply. Or we can seek new principles to govern in this new era of ubiquitous access to information, people, products and services," McCain said.

Last year, Senators McCain and Ron Wyden (D-OR) successfully passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act, P.L. 105-277.

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