Congress makes tax ban on internet access permanent

Today, the senate voted to keep internet access free from taxes — permanently.

Taxing the internet has been banned since 1998, however it was a moratorium, not a law. Congress had to keep extending it, and they did — a total of eight times since 2001.

In 2015, the House approved H.R. 235, otherwise known as the “Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act,” which sought to make the moratorium permanent.

That bill, H.R. 235 was amended and added to the ” Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act” and today, that bill has passed the Senate by a vote of 75 to 20.

The bill also adds a firm end date, June 30, 2020, to the handful of states that currently impose an internet tax: Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

➤ Congress Makes Internet Access Tax Ban Permanent [Forbes]