Frank Lautenberg: “I offer an amendment, No. 3104, to the McCain substitute amendment to S. 150, the Internet Access Tax Moratorium bill.…”

“I offer an amendment, No. 3104, to the McCain substitute amendment to S. 150, the Internet Access Tax Moratorium bill. My amendment, if adopted, would require the General Accounting Office, GAO, to conduct a study on the impact of the moratorium and report its findings back to Congress by November 1, 2005. GAO would be tasked with analyzing the revenue impact of the Internet tax moratorium on State and local governments. GAO would also be tasked with analyzing the effect of the moratorium on the deployment and adoption of broadband technologies for Internet access throughout the United States. The amendment directs GAO to compare deployment and adoption rates in States that tax broadband Internet access service with States that do not tax such service, and to take into account other factors to determine whether the Internet Tax Freedom Act has had a positive impact on the deployment and adoption of broadband Internet access services. Having GAO conduct such a study is important because we simply don't know what the real impact of this legislation will be on the tax revenues of State and local government. The way Internet 'access' is defined in the bill, it could be a giant loophole ripe for exploitation by telecommunications companies, especially with regard to the emerging market of Internet telephony, which is commonly referred to as 'Voice over Internet Protocol', VoIP.”