| 1 | House Resolution |
| 2 | A resolution urging the Senators in the United States |
| 3 | Congress from the State of Florida to support federal |
| 4 | legislation proposing a permanent ban on Internet access |
| 5 | taxes. |
| 6 |
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| 7 | WHEREAS, in 1998, Congress enacted, and in 2001 extended, |
| 8 | the Internet Tax Freedom Act in order to protect consumers that |
| 9 | use the Internet and to encourage more individuals to access the |
| 10 | Internet, and |
| 11 | WHEREAS, the legislation eliminated taxes on Internet |
| 12 | access, double-taxation of a product or service bought over the |
| 13 | Internet, and discriminatory taxes that treated Internet |
| 14 | purchases differently from other types of sales, and |
| 15 | WHEREAS, the moratorium on taxing Internet access led to |
| 16 | the rapid growth of the Internet, which in turn brought good |
| 17 | economic news, and |
| 18 | WHEREAS, we live in an age of innovation, where the medium |
| 19 | of the Internet is sparking a sharp increase in entrepreneurship |
| 20 | and opportunity, the likes of which have not been seen since the |
| 21 | beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and |
| 22 | WHEREAS, enacting a tax on Internet access will do |
| 23 | significant damage to the United States economy and decrease the |
| 24 | standard of living for all Americans, and |
| 25 | WHEREAS, on September 17, 2003, the House of |
| 26 | Representatives unanimously passed a permanent ban on all |
| 27 | Internet access taxes, however, when the bill came to the Senate |
| 28 | floor, pro-Internet tax Senators used parliamentary and other |
| 29 | underhanded procedural tricks to force supporters of the |
| 30 | legislation into negotiations, and |
| 31 | WHEREAS, opponents of a tax-free Internet used the |
| 32 | negotiations to stall and stop final passage of a permanent ban |
| 33 | on Internet access taxes in order to achieve their true desire |
| 34 | to tax the Internet, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 35 |
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| 36 | Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of |
| 37 | Florida: |
| 38 |
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| 39 | That the House of Representatives of the State of Florida |
| 40 | urges our Senators in the United States Congress to join other |
| 41 | Senators in Congress in passing a clean, permanent, and |
| 42 | technologically neutral extension of the Internet tax |
| 43 | moratorium. |
| 44 | BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be |
| 45 | transmitted to the Senators in the United States Congress from |
| 46 | the State of Florida. |