Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3086, the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA), by voice vote. The bill would make permanent the law that prevents state and local governments from imposing new taxes on Internet access, and prohibits any multiple or discriminatory taxes on e-commerce. The current law was set to expire on November 1st, and the House of Representatives moved quickly to pass a bill that would protect consumers and businesses across the country from seeing their bills go up in November.
During his statement on the House floor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), explained the power of the Internet on our nation’s economy.
“Everyone in Silicon Valley knows Max Levchin’s story. He came to America from the Soviet Union at age 16. His family had $300 dollars in its pocket, and he learned English by watching an old TV set he hauled out of a dumpster and repaired. Ten years later, he sold PayPal, the well-known Internet payments platform he cofounded, for $1.5 billion. That is the greatness of the Internet. It is a liberating technology that is a vast meritocracy. It does not care how you look or where you come from. It offers opportunity to anyone willing to invest time and effort. That is precisely why Congress has worked assiduously for sixteen years to keep Internet access tax-free. Now we must act again, once and for all.”
Now that the bill has cleared its first hurdle in the House, it now awaits Senate action. For updates on the PITFA, please follow eBay Main Street on Twitter at @ebayGR.