Rep. Cox and Sen. Wyden Introduce Internet Tax Resolution

(September 30, 1999) Rep. Chris Cox and Sen. Ron Wyden introduced a resolution on Thursday, September 30 calling on the United States to support global Internet tax freedom. It calls for a permanent moratorium on global Internet e-commerce tariffs, a ban on multiple, discriminatory, and special Internet taxes, and a condemnation of the U.N. proposal that nations impose a bit tax.

Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) were the sponsors in the House and Senate, respectively, of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which became law last year. That law imposed a three year moratorium on new discriminatory Internet taxes within the United States.

The resolution introduced by Rep. Cox and Sen. Wyden contains four provisions. First, it urges President Clinton to seek global consensus supporting "(A) a permanent international ban on tariffs on electronic commerce; and (B) an international ban on special, multiple, and discriminatory taxation of electronic commerce and the Internet".

	Rep. Chris Cox

Second, it "urges the President to instruct the United States delegation to the November 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle, Washington to seek to make permanent and binding the moratorium on tariffs, on electronic transmissions adopted by the World Trade Organization in May 1998".

Third, it "urges the President to seek adoption by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and implementation by the group's 29 member countries, of an international ban on special, multiple, and discriminatory taxation of electronic commerce and the Internet".

Fourth, it "urges the President to oppose any proposal by any country, the United Nations, or any other multilateral organization to establish a "bit tax" on electronic transmissions".

Sen. Ron Wyden

This final provision is in part a response to a July 1999 United Nations report which urged world governments to impose "bit taxes" on electronic transmissions.

Rep. Chris Cox is a member of the House Commerce Committee, and its Telecommunications subcommittee, which have jurisdiction over most issues affecting electronic commerce. Sen. Wyden is a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, and its Communications subcommittee. Both received perfect scores of 100 in Tech Law Journal's High Tech Congressional Scorecard 1998.