Congress to Finally Make Broadband Tax Ban Permanent

In an all too rare showing of competence, Congress appears to be close to actually passing a permanent ban on broadband taxes. The moratorium on Internet access taxes (known as the Internet Tax Freedom Act) was originally passed in 1998, but has required renewal each year. The House passed a permanent ban on specific broadband taxes back in June.

The Senate however stumbled around the issue, thanks in part to some politicians trying to tie the permanent moratorium to a new tax on online shopping. But the permanent tax ban is now being included in a trade enforcement bill scheduled to be voted on this week.

Congress is expected to approve the broader bill, finally putting the issue of broadband service taxes to rest for good.

Past moratoriums have allowed the roughly ten states that had specific broadband access taxes (not to be confused with all the other taxes on your bill) before 1998 to retain them, though this new Act would do away with those.

"I co-wrote the Internet Tax Freedom Act nearly a decade ago to help spur the growth of the digital economy," Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement . "Today online commerce is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs. In my view, when you have something that works, that has stood the test of time, you ought to make it permanent," he added.