Senate Bill sb1822

    Florida Senate - 2004                                  SM 1822

    By Senator Posey





    24-1391-04

  1                     Senate Memorial No. ____

  2         A memorial to the Congress of the United

  3         States, urging Congress to enact a permanent

  4         ban on Internet access taxes.

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  6         WHEREAS, in 1998 and in 2001, Congress enacted the

  7  Internet Tax Freedom Act in order to protect consumers that

  8  use the Internet and encourage more individuals to access the

  9  Internet, and

10         WHEREAS, the legislation eliminated taxes on Internet

11  access, double-taxation of a product or service bought over

12  the Internet, and discriminatory taxes that treated Internet

13  purchases differently from other types of sales, and

14         WHEREAS, the moratorium on Internet access led to the

15  rapid growth of the Internet, which in turn brought good

16  economic news, and

17         WHEREAS, we live in an age of innovation, where the

18  medium of the Internet is sparking a sharp increase in

19  entrepreneurship and opportunity, the likes of which have not

20  been seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,

21  and

22         WHEREAS, enacting a tax on Internet access will do

23  significant damage to the United States economy and decrease

24  the standard of living for all Americans, and

25         WHEREAS, on September 17, 2003, the United States House

26  of Representatives unanimously passed a permanent ban on all

27  Internet access taxes, however, when the bill came to the

28  Senate floor, pro-Internet tax Senators used parliamentary and

29  other underhanded procedural tricks to force supporters of the

30  legislation into negotiations, and

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    Florida Senate - 2004                                  SM 1822
    24-1391-04




 1         WHEREAS, opponents of a tax-free Internet used the

 2  negotiations to stall and stop final passage of a permanent

 3  ban on Internet access taxes in order to achieve their true

 4  desire and tax Internet, NOW, THEREFORE,

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 6  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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 8         That the Congress of the United States is requested to

 9  pass a clean, permanent, and technologically neutral extension

10  of the Internet tax moratorium.

11         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

12  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the

13  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the

14  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of

15  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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