[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 111 (Tuesday, September 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H7741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DIGITAL DIVIDE ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY ACT

  (Mr. WELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, let me share some statistics with my 
colleagues. Over 100 million Americans today are online, and seven new 
Americans go on line every second. One-third of all new jobs today are 
created in the technology sector, and in my home State of Illinois, 
salaries of technology workers are 59 percent higher than other 
traditional jobs.
  There is great opportunity in this new economy, but educators tell me 
they notice the difference back home in our schools between those 
children who have computers and Internet access at home and those who 
do not. When we ask why they do not, they always say that the cost is 
the biggest challenge.
  Well, the private sector, Ford, Intel, Delta and American Airlines 
have stepped forward to provide Internet-accessed computers for their 
employees. Unfortunately, the IRS wants to tax it. For a worker making 
$27,000 a year, that means $200 in higher taxes, just because their 
employer provides them with a computer. Think about that. The janitor, 
the assembly line worker, the laborer, their children having Internet 
access and a computer at home to do their school work.
  Mr. Speaker, it is good policy; and I am glad to see the private 
sector stepping forward.
  That is why I want to ask my colleagues to join with me in 
cosponsoring the DDATA Act, legislation that clarifies that employer-
provided computers and Internet access are tax free, treated the same 
way as an employer-provided pension or health care benefit.
  The DDATA Act is pro worker, pro education, and pro technology. Let 
us stop the IRS from taxing these kinds of employer benefits.

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