WP: States Renew Case Against Internet Tax Ban

With a moratorium on taxing consumer access to the Internet set to expire next month, Congress is under pressure to decide whether states should be barred from taxing a raft of budding online services -- from Internet-based phone calls to online music and movie downloads.

State lawmakers and tax officials are mounting a last-minute lobbying push to convince Congress to allow them to collect taxes on those services, which are expected to become some of the most lucrative businesses on the Internet.

Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who is sponsoring a Senate bill to renew the tax ban, said the state lobbying campaign is "alarming."

"It seems to me what the states really want is to stop the Internet access ban from becoming permanent, or they are looking for language that would stick consumers with hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes each year," Wyden said today on the Senate floor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30702-2003Oct15.html