BILL REQ. #:  S-3687.1 

Read first time 01/22/2004.   Referred to Committee on Technology & Communications.

     TO THE HONORABLE PATTY MURRAY AND THE HONORABLE MARIA CANTWELL:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, In 1998, Congress enacted, and in 2001 extended, the Internet Tax Freedom Act to protect consumers who used the Internet and encourage more individuals to access the Internet; and
     WHEREAS, The legislation eliminated taxes on Internet access, double-taxation of a product or service bought over the Internet, and discriminatory taxes that treated Internet purchases differently from other types of sales; and
     WHEREAS, The moratorium on Internet access led to the rapid growth of the Internet, which in turn brought good economic news; and
     WHEREAS, We live in an age of innovation, where the medium of the Internet is sparking a sharp increase in entrepreneurship and opportunity, the likes of which have not been seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution; and
     WHEREAS, Enacting a tax on Internet access will do significant damage to the United States economy and decrease the standard of living for all Americans; and
     WHEREAS, On September 17, 2003, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a permanent ban on all Internet access taxes, however, when the bill came to the Senate floor, pro-Internet tax Senators used parliamentary and other underhanded procedural tricks to force supporters of the legislation into negotiations; and
     WHEREAS, Opponents of a tax free Internet used the negotiations to stall and stop final passage of a permanent ban on Internet access taxes to achieve their true desire and tax the Internet;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the Senators from our state pass a clean, permanent, and technologically neutral extension of the Internet tax moratorium.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Patty Murray and the Honorable Maria Cantwell.