Ernest Istook: “the sky is not falling. On October 21 we are not going to be hit by a great rush of jurisdictions saying now we are…”

“the sky is not falling. On October 21 we are not going to be hit by a great rush of jurisdictions saying now we are going to impose taxes on the Internet. We are not under an emergency circumstance on that. We have many emergencies in this country; trying to stop some unnamed jurisdictions from adopting a sudden tax is not an emergency. However, dealing with the overall issue of drawing the ground rules for how the Internet is treated in comparison with other legitimate businesses is very important. That is why it is important that Congress not take an attitude of saying we are going to stick our head in the sand for any period of time, 5 years, 2 years, any amount of time. I oppose any sort of effort to single out the Internet or Internet merchants for taxation, to say we are going to have multiple taxes because a business does business through the Internet or discriminatory taxes because they do that. I also oppose singling out merchants that do not deal through the Internet; to say that they are going to be paying taxes that others that sell to those same customers are not required to pay or to collect. We need a fair tax system when it comes to the Internet. We need a fair tax system when it comes to merchants that are not using the Internet. That is my concern, that we will hide our head in the sand rather than addressing the tough issues. That is why I am pleased that we are not talking about a 5-year moratorium anymore.”