[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19456]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  HANDS OFF THE INTERNET FOR THE U.N.

  (Mr. ROYCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, the United Nations is an organization of 
sovereign states funded with voluntary contributions. It lacks any 
authority to impose taxes on its member states. Yet, the U.N.'s 
development program has proposed $70 billion in taxes on e-mail, 35 
times more than it currently receives in contributions. Why has it done 
this? Because it believes countries are poor because they lack the 
Internet.
  The U.N. should be more concerned about real problems in developing 
countries, like political mismanagement and repressive economic 
policies. Giving away computers does nothing for the poor if their 
countries lack the economic fundamentals to take advantage of the 
Internet.
  The Internet offers tremendous potential to small businesses seeking 
an efficient way to gain new markets. Internet taxes and the 
bureaucracy needed to administer them would cripple this commerce. 
Congress has had a hands off policy when it comes to Internet taxes, 
and the U.N. should do the same. Hands off the Internet for the U.N.

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