Anna Eshoo: “I thank the gentlewoman from Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 235, the Permanent Internet Tax…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 235, the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act. Now, whether it is communication, commerce, business, education, research, access to the Internet is today an integral part of the everyday life of millions of Americans and people around the world. And we take great pride in this because this is an American invention. Just this month, the GAO released a new report which found that broadband affordability continues to be the most frequently identified barrier to adoption. Now, this whole issue of taxation for access to the Internet, this is not the collection of taxes across State lines. That is another issue. There are over 10,000 taxing agencies in the United States today. Imagine if we, you, your constituents, everyone in the country who uses the Internet has to pay for access to the Internet every time they go to use it, that they would be taxed on that. So, the temporary, or the moratorium bill that we have, now this one makes it permanent. This is a bipartisan effort. Over 200 cosponsors in the Congress are on it. We want to encourage expanded broadband adoption. If you tax it, you are going to shrink it. And I think in the communities that are of lower economic means, this is going to hurt them even more. We need to do everything we can to ensure that Internet access is universally affordable.…”