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To: Krowbar who wrote (48126)	8/1/1999 11:41:00 AM
From: Father Terrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

TO ALL: Sen. Hollings Proposes National Sales Tax On E-Commerce ============================================================= AOP Alert 99:03 Saturday, July 31, 1999 ============================================================= The following is a policy alert from AOP, the leading national association for electronic commerce and communication. Information regarding AOP may be found at aop.org. Please give this Alert the widest possible distribution. ============================================================= Sen. Hollings Proposes National Sales Tax On E-Commerce ============================================================= Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (D-SC) has introduced a bill to punish companies for engaging in electronic commerce by imposing a 5 percent national sales tax on their transactions. S.1433, entitled the "Sales Tax Safety Net and Teacher Funding Act," targets companies that, under rulings by the US Supreme Court, are not required to pay local sales taxes. "This is basically for the L.L. Beans of the world," said a Hollings spokesperson. Hollings hopes to gain support for the anti-Internet measure by tying the new Federal tax to education. The bill would raise money to establish grants through the Treasury Department for benefits and compensation to elementary and secondary school teachers. More to the point, the Hollings bill is intended to derail the more reasonable study of Internet taxation by the National Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, an industry/government effort that began earlier this year. The commission has been bitterly opposed by tax authorities anxious to impose a heavier tax burden on the Internet at the state and local levels. The bill is based on the incorrect premise that electronic commerce is in some way reducing the revenues to state and local governments. In reality, those taxing authorities are enjoying their highest tax collections in decades thanks to the healthy economy. Further, the bill assumes that no sales taxes are being imposed on e-commerce, when in fact 42 states already have sales taxes on e-commerce. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where Hollings is the ranking Democratic member, for future consideration. AOP considers it imperative that this bill not be enacted, and that the advisory commission on electronic commerce be allowed to complete its task as the Congress outlined. All AOP members are urged to immediately contact Senator Hollings to voice opposition to this bill. All Internet consumers, and particularly those who reside in South Carolina, are likewise urged to write or fax the Senator. You may also send email, though this may be less effective since few Senators read their email. Contact information for Senator Hollings is as follows: The Honorable Ernest Hollings Senator for South Carolina 125 Senate Russell Office Building Washington, DC 20510-4002 Phone: (202) 224-6121 Fax: (202) 224-4293 Email: senator@hollings.senate.gov Please post this message to all appropriate forums, and forward it to Internet consumers in the state of South Carolina for appropriate response. --