New Wyden-McCain-Leahy Bill Would Extend Bar On Discriminatory Taxes On E-Commerce [Sen. Patrick Leahy today (Tues., Oct. 2) joined Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to introduce legislation to continue current law that prevents governments from singling out the Internet for new kinds of discriminatory taxes and new Internet access charges. Leahy, known as the "cyber senator" for his longtime work on and interest in Internet issues and for his efforts to promote e-commerce in Vermont, also was a leading supporter of the law that first launched the Internet tax moratorium in Oct. 1998. Unless Congress acts, the current moratorium will expire on October 21, 2001. Following are Leahy’s comments about the new bill:]   "Although electronic commerce is beginning to blossom, it is still in its infancy. Stability is the key to its reaching its full potential, and creating new tax categories for the Internet is exactly the wrong thing to do. E-commerce should not be subject to new taxes that do not apply to other commerce. "Indeed, without the current moratorium, there are 30,000 different jurisdictions around the country that could levy discriminatory or multiple Internet taxes on e-commerce. Let’s not allow the future of electronic commerce -- with its great potential to expand the markets of Main Street businesses -- to be crushed by the weight of discriminatory taxation. "We also need a national policy to make sure that the traditional state and local sales taxes on Internet sales are applied and collected fairly and uniformly. This two-year extension of the current moratorium gives our governors and state legislatures time to simplify their sales tax rules and reach consensus on a workable national system for collecting sales taxes on e-commerce." # # # # # Oct. 2, 2001