[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S10059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Leahy):
  S. 1481. A bill to extend the moratorium enacted by the Internet Tax 
Freedom Act for 2 years, and encourage States to simplify their sales 
and use taxes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to add my support to promoting 
electronic commerce and keeping it free from discriminatory and 
multiple State and local taxes. I am pleased to join the senior Senator 
from Oregon and the senior Senator from Arizona as an original 
cosponsor of the Internet Tax Moratorium Extension Act. I commend 
Senator Wyden and Senator McCain for their continued leadership on 
Internet tax policy.
  Although electronic commerce is beginning to blossom, it is still in 
its infancy. Stability is key to reaching its full potential, and 
creating new tax categories for the Internet is exactly the wrong thing 
to do. E-commerce should not be subject to new taxes that do not apply 
to other commerce.
  Indeed, without the current moratorium, there are 30,000 different 
jurisdictions around the country that could levy discriminatory or 
multiple Internet taxes on E-commerce. Let's not allow the future of 
electronic commerce, with its great potential to expand the markets of 
Main Street businesses, to be crushed by the weight of discriminatory 
taxation.
  We also need a national policy to make sure that the traditional 
State and local sales taxes on Internet sales are applied and collected 
fairly and uniformly. This two-year extension of the current moratorium 
gives our Governors and State legislatures time to simplify their sale 
tax rules and reach consensus on a workable national system for 
collecting sales taxes on E-commerce.
  E-commerce is growing, our moratorium law is working, and we should 
keep a good thing going. I am proud to cosponsor the Internet Tax 
Moratorium Extension Act to encourage online commerce to continue to 
grow with confidence. I urge my colleagues to support its swift passage 
into law.
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