April 29, 2004 Washington, DC -- The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) today applauded the U.S. Senate for invoking cloture on Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) substitute amendment to the Internet tax moratorium bill, introduced by Senator George Allen (R-VA), by a vote of 64-34 this afternoon.  The substitute amendment would extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes, which expired last November, by four years.

"With this cloture vote in the Senate, we are one step closer to achieving our goal to ensure that all Americans have unencumbered access to the vast potential of the Internet," said ITI President Rhett Dawson.  "While we had hoped for a permanent ban on Internet access taxes, a four-year moratorium is a reasonable compromise and will help ensure the expansion and deployment of broadband technology."

ITI sent a letter to every Senate office yesterday urging support for the McCain compromise amendment and notifying Members that the association anticipates scoring votes related to the passage of the Internet tax moratorium in its High Tech Voting Guide for the 108^th Congress. 

 

The McCain amendment will give states that have been collecting taxes on Digital Subscriber Lines (“DSL”) services two years to stop taxing DSL.  Although ITI did not support the inclusion of the new “grandfather” provision, we acknowledge the desire to give states more time to prepare for application of the moratorium to DSL services.

 

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) represents the leading U.S. providers of information technology (IT) products and services. ITI is the voice of the high tech community, advocating policies that foster U.S. economic growth and job creation by advancing U.S. leadership in technology and innovation; expanding market access for IT products; protecting consumer privacy and choice; promoting e-commerce; and enhancing the global competitiveness of its member companies.

ITI member companies include Accenture, Agilent Technologies, Apple, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, Corning, Dell, Eastman Kodak, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Lexmark, Microsoft, National Semiconductor, NCR, Oracle, Panasonic, SAP, Sony Electronics, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, Tektronix, Time Warner, and Unisys. For more information, contact Shannon Feaster at sfeaster@itic.org.

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