The current mortatorium on Internet access taxes is due to end this coming Saturday, but the U.S. Senate could vote on a bill making the moratorium permanent before the week is over.
The House cleared the bill last month. The problem in the Senate, according to PC World: Some senators have blocked action on the bill until there's a clear definition of Internet access and the telecommunications services that definition includes.
The permanent moratorium would stop states and localities from levying new takes on either dialup or broadband Net access, and would also stop states from taxing online and offline purchases differently, but opponents of the permanent moratorium say the biggest problem otherwise is how to define telecommunications services.
"Let's not be so vague," said Christine Lapille, spokeswoman for the National Governors' Association, to PC World. "We could be permanently exempting telecommunications taxes that some states are now collecting." But Verizon vice president of governmental relations Mark Mullet told the magazine the bill makes it very clear that if any provider bundles taxable and nontaxable services, the entire package can be taxed.
The Multistate Tax Commission has estimated that states would lose between $4 billion and $9 billion in 2006 if the Net tax moratorium is made permanent, but the Business Roundtable says that estimate is exaggerated. And the National Taxpayers Union told PC World say that if the bill makes it to a Senate floor vote, it's likely to pass, and along bipartisan lines.
