[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 1537]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    INTERNET TAX FREEDOM FOREVER ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on an entirely different matter, I 
think many Americans would agree with the following statement: The 
Internet should remain open and free. Politicians should certainly not 
try to tax it.
  Congress passed a temporary ban on Internet taxes back in 1998. It 
was an important bipartisan win for the American people, but Congress 
has never made that ban permanent. In fact, there have been eight 
different short-term extensions of the Internet tax ban. It is time we 
made it permanent. It is time we made it permanent.
  The bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act has 51 cosponsors. It 
was introduced by the top Republican on the Commerce Committee and the 
top Democrat on the Finance Committee. In my office we have received 
many, many messages from Kentuckians who support this measure.
  Here is what the bipartisan Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act would 
do. It would ensure any existing Internet taxes are phased out 
permanently. It would ensure any new attempts to tax the Internet are 
prohibited permanently. It would ensure Americans' access to 
information and online communications remain open and free permanently.
  The House already passed this kind of commonsense bipartisan 
legislation to make the ban on Internet taxes permanent. It is time we 
did it here in the Senate. The action I am about to take will allow us 
to have that chance on Thursday of this week.

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