Temporary Net Tax Ban Wins Industry Support
The telecom and high-tech industries support a four-year extension of the Internet tax moratorium offered in a bill (HR-3678) by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. “While we prefer a permanent extension, we believe that HR-3678 is a step forward and thus a bill we can support,” said a letter to Conyers’ office from Don’t Tax Our Web coalition leader Broderick Johnson. A permanent extension would be the first choice, but given the political situation the industry prefers an extension to nothing being done, industry and Hill sources said.
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“We would urge both houses to do what is necessary to get this legislation passed,” Johnson told us, adding that his group had worked in both chambers to improve the bill, including by clarifying state taxing powers over Internet access providers. The coalition includes about 30 major telecom and high-tech companies, including USTelecom, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Google and Comcast, as well as major business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers.
Republicans continue a push for a permanent ban. House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Thursday his support for two bills: HR-743, introduced by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and HR-1170 by Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif. Boehner asked Democratic leaders to schedule a permanent Internet tax ban vote as soon as possible. “By hesitating to renew the Internet tax ban, the Democratic leadership in Congress is playing an irresponsible game of chicken with American consumers and our nation’s economy,” Boehner said.
It isn’t clear where Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., will put her support. But many think a temporary ban bill (HR-3678) in the House Judiciary Committee is the best bet to get to the House floor, industry and Hill sources said. That bill is tentatively scheduled for markup the middle of next week, sources said. Industry support for the measure gives it added heft. The Conyers bill contains “important definitional and statutory changes that improve current law,” said the letter from the industry coalition.
A Senate GOP effort to expedite consideration of a permanent ban is unlikely to succeed, Sen. Gordon Smith, R- Ore., told us Thursday. “But we're going to work hard” to get it done, he added. Chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, Smith told a U.S. Chamber luncheon Thursday that the Internet tax moratorium is a critical element in an overall strategy to improve U.S. broadband deployment. “We'll either deploy more or we'll move more jobs abroad,” Smith said. Congress needs to reform the Universal Service Fund program so it spends money on broadband deployment in areas where private investors won’t go, he said. Smith also supports bills that would require the government to identify areas of the country that don’t have broadband deployment and allow states and municipalities to build their own networks.
A Senate bill (S-2128) making the moratorium permanent could be called up on the Senate floor through a Rule 14 procedure, but that’s unlikely before next week, Hill sources said. The measure, introduced by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., is an attempt to circumvent a stall in progress in the Senate Commerce Committee, which postponed a markup on a temporary moratorium bill last week. If Republicans ask for the bill to be considered next week, it could produce a showdown with Democratic leaders by forcing them to take a stand on a bill that they may not regard as taking the best approach.