Netscape, MCI WorldCom Chiefs Named to Internet Panel (Update1)
Bloomberg News
December 4, 1998, 4:23 p.m. ET
Netscape, MCI WorldCom Chiefs Named to Internet Panel (Update1)
(Adds analysts comments.)
Washington, Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Netscape Communications
Corp. Chief Executive James Barksdale and MCI WorldCom Inc. Vice
Chairman John Sidgmore were named to a panel that will review
federal policies on Internet taxes.
The 19-member group, which will make recommendations to
Congress in 2000, was created as part of a law that bans new
taxes on Internet business for the next three years.
The law was a victory for companies like America Online
Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others
that said new taxes would discourage consumers from buying
online, hampering sales and stifling Internet growth.
''These individuals bring to the commission a full
understanding of the Internet and its growing impact on the
personal and professional lives of many Americans,'' U.S. Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott said in a statement.
It was Lott who named Barksdale and Sidgmore to the panel.
Lott also chose Utah Republican Governor Michael O. Leavitt, Stan
Sokul of the Association for Interactive Media, and Paul Clinton
Harris, a Republican with the Virginia House of Delegates.
Leavitt, vice chairman of the National Governors' Association,
helped congressional lawmakers win state and local support for
the bill.
''The composition of the commission will be a key factor in
determining eventual recommendations,'' which Congress will use
for future legislation, said Bill Whyman, an Internet analyst
with Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc.'s Precursor Group. More critical
will be who's named chairman of the panel, since that person
''will have a big influence in shaping the drafting process and
details of the report.''
Earlier this week, House Speaker Newt Gingrich named Time
Warner Inc. President Richard D. Parsons and Charles Schwab Corp.
President David Pottruck to the panel.
Gingrich also named Virginia Republican Governor James
Gilmore; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform;
and Dean Andal, chairman of California's State Board of
Equalization.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader
Richard Gephardt have yet to name their selections to the
commission.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Commerce Secretary
William Daley and Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky also
will serve on the panel.
The commission's findings will be a ''focal point for some
good discussions on taxation of the Internet that will have
implications far beyond the U.S.,'' said Frank J. Kelly, a vice
president with Charles Schwab's Washington office.
--Alan M. Wolf and Paul Nyhan in Washington (202) 624-1863/mmw/ge |
