John Campbell: “Mr. Speaker, 9 years ago, this House passed this ban on Internet taxes. It has been in place for 9 years. During that…”

“Mr. Speaker, 9 years ago, this House passed this ban on Internet taxes. It has been in place for 9 years. During that time, we have seen tremendous growth, economic growth, come from the Internet and also tremendous opportunity for people to access information that before they could not access over that 9 years. During this time, e-mail, which once cost everyone something, now costs most people nothing. Instant messages now exist which are generally entirely free. There are all kinds of Web sites that allow people to access information for free that prior to the evolution and growth of the Internet they would have to pay to get that information. Now you have a number of municipalities and organizations looking at free WiFi, meaning that is even free access to the Internet. In the face of all of this, all of these market pressures lowering the cost of people accessing this information and adding to the economic growth that comes from the Internet, the last thing that government should be doing is imposing their cost on it, their cost meaning 'taxes.' Mr. Speaker, I stand today to support this legislation, although I firmly believe, as the previous speakers have said, that this ban should have been made permanent.”