Poll after poll demonstrates clearly that Americans oppose Internet taxes. Yet even as Congress is poised to act on a wildly popular bill to bar states from imposing Internet-access taxes, the measure has been held up by those who want to tie it to a deeply unpopular plan to expand states’ taxing powers online.
The Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act — before the U.S. Senate this week as part of deliberations on the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act conference report — would protect consumers by proscribing states from taxing Internet access. According to a new poll conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the National Taxpayers Union, fully 83 percent of Americans support a permanent ban on Internet access taxes, as consumers are tired of the sorts of double-digit tax burdens they often face with other communications technologies, like wireless service.
