Internet Tax Freedom Act

This article is part of a series about Ron Wyden
Political positions U.S. Representative for Oregon's 3rd Representative career Healthcare Quality Improvement Act National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act U.S. Senator from Oregon Internet Tax Freedom Act Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act Wyden-Bennett Act Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act Data Cap Integrity Act Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act OPEN Act S. 256 Omnibus Territories Act of 2013 Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act Cider Act Commercial UAS Modernization Act Hemp Farming Act of 2018
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The 1998 Internet Tax Freedom Act is a United States law authored by Representative Christopher Cox and Senator Ron Wyden that established national policy regarding federal and state taxation of the internet, based upon its unique characteristics as a mode of interstate and global commerce uniquely susceptible to multiple and discriminatory taxation. The law prohibits state and local governments from imposing taxes directly on the internet or online activity, such as email taxes, internet access taxes, bit taxes, and bandwidth taxes. It categorizes taxes targeted specifically to the internet itself or to online commerce as “discriminatory.” Discriminatory taxes are outlawed.^[1][2]

When it was originally signed into signed into law as Title XI of Pub.L. 105-277^[3] on October 21, 1998 by President Bill Clinton, the Act imposed a ten-year moratorium on discriminatory and multiple taxation of the internet and electronic commerce. The law was subsequently extended on multiple occasions by Congress, and on February 24, 2016, it was made permanent as Pub.L. 114-125, §922(a).

In both its original and permanent form, the law's stated purpose is to promote and preserve the commercial, educational, and informational potential of the Internet.^[4][5]