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Don't let the government slow Internet progress The Internet has become a powerful communications and economic force because it has been free from government interference. To make sure the power and promise of the Internet continues, we need to keep it free of government interference.
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Latest from the IFC Don’t just extend the Net tax moratorium; keep it for good Tuesday, November 6, 2007 Jason Wright WASHINGTON - Across the nation, local governments are looking for ways to make the Internet more accessible to citizens and encourage its use. From school programs to telecommuting initiatives to reduce traffic, local governments are rightly finding efficient use of the Internet as a powerful tool. And they are realizing that the Internet has become such an integral part of life that it is no longer optional for many people. States talk about the “digital divide” and actively work to encourage and enable adoption. At the same time, many are straining at the bit to penalize and discourage use by taxing Internet access. The only thing keeping them from doing it is the moratorium enacted by Congress in 1998. If allowed to lapse — as it is scheduled to do on Nov. 1 — Americans will face different barriers to Internet use depending on where they live. That would be a substantial drag on adoption and improvement of the Internet. The discrepancy between encouraging Internet use and then penalizing it through taxation borders on hypocrisy. For instance, some states have created powerful Web sites and encourage people to use them to access state information and systems. Poor citizens need services just as much — sometimes more — than rich ones. Taxing access sends a powerful message: Not only do we expect you to pay your service provider a monthly fee, but we want our pound of flesh, too, before you get our services. This is doubly galling when one considers that moving services to the Internet ultimately saves money by reducing the number of people needed to service constituents. Education provides another good example. Teachers assume that kids have access to the Internet at home. Instant access to global resources has become an important part of teaching. Many schools even post homework on the Web and use e-mail to communicate with students. It doesn’t make sense for states to spend thousands of dollars a year for each student and then tax a key part of the learning process. As budgets get tighter, states are tempted to add new taxes. In the case of Internet access, legislators need to do something that many struggle with: trust the market. Many of the things that people do on the Internet will ultimately generate additional tax revenue. “A rising tide lifts all boats” applies to Internet commerce as well as it does anywhere else. There is no denying that billions of dollars are spent over the Internet. A strong economy helps the nation and the states. The added state revenue that would come from taxing Internet access would be more than offset by the loss of money caused by a slowing of the Internet economy. This is a federal issue. The playing field must be level when it is so easy to operate across the country and the world. Congress is considering extending for a few more years the moratorium on Internet access taxes. This is not enough. The ban should be permanent. State and local governments need to start looking for other sources of revenue. Service providers need a known environment so they can build a stable business model and then follow it to build out their networks. Just extending the moratorium will cause them to hedge and move more cautiously. Finally, consumers need to know that their Internet bill will not creep up at the whim of legislators. So Congress, don’t just extend the moratorium. Kill the Internet tax for good. Jason Wright is president of the Institute for Liberty and co-founder of the Internet Free Coalition. Examiner Labels: Internet Tax Moratorium 11/06/2007 10:56:00 AMPrevious Posts: Top News
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