* This is the modus mailing list * We received this alert this afternoon and are passing it along to you. Action is required because of the ramifications it could have on your business.
============================================================ USIIA Alert November 10, 2003 Alert 03:12 ============================================================ This is an urgent alert to all US-based Internet Service Providers -- and particularly those in the states of Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Dakota, Delaware, Alaska, Florida, California and New Jersey -- from the US Internet Industry Association. Please give this the widest possible circulation to Internet Service Providers and subscribers. ============================================================ On October 31, 2003, the moratorium on new, multiple and discriminatory taxes on Internet access expired. A bill to make the moratorium permanent, S.150 (The Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act) is currently being blocked in the US Senate, and unlikely to be voted on until late in November, if ever. If the legislation making the moratorium permanent is not voted on, billions of dollars in new taxes could be levied on Internet users, with almost no limitations. ISPs will need to collect and remit taxes to any number of different taxing authorities in every city, county and state in which they do business. Other Internet services -- Voice over IP, Instant Messaging, Electronic Mail, Downloads, Web Hosting, and more -- will also be subject to new taxes. The cost of compliance will put most Internet providers out of business, and will negatively impact both churn rate and the ability to acquire new customers. The taxes will cripple efforts to deploy broadband in every state, affecting business customers even more than residential customers. It will also cripple the deployment of broadband services into rural areas. No form of Internet access or service will be safe from new, multiple and discriminatory taxes. Cable, Telephone, Satellite, Wireless and all other forms of Internet service would be affected. This is not a hoax -- states have attempted to impose taxes for the five years the moratorium has been in place, and examples of abuses by tax commissars at the local level are numerous. Also note that the process will be automatic -- many states already have procedures in their tax code to implement new and retroactive taxes the moment that the moratorium is lifted. Opponents blocking the moratorium -- the Senators who support the creation of billions of dollars in new, hidden taxes on the Internet -- are: Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Phone: (202) 224-4944 Fax: (202) 228-3398 Thomas Carper (D-DE) Washington, D.C. 20510-3504 Phone: (202) 224-3353 Fax: (202) 228-1382 George Voinovich (R-OH) Washington Office: Phone: (202) 224-3353 Fax: (202) 228-1382 Ernest Hollings (D-SC) Washington Office: Phone: (202) 224-6121 Fax: (202) 224-4293 Ted Stevens (R-AK) Phone: (202) 224-3004 Fax: (202) 224-2354 Bob Graham (D-FL) Phone: (202) 224-3041 Fax: (202) 224-2237 Byron Dorgan (D-ND) Phone: (202) 224-2551 Fax: (202) 224-1193 Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Phone: (202) 224-3841 Fax: (202) 228-3954 Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Phone: (202) 224-3224 Fax: (202) 228-4054 These champions of higher taxes have offered a "compromise" that would apply for only two years, and would affect only a dedicated line from the end user to the ISP's facility -- the access point, head end or station nearest the consumer. New taxes would be heaped on the remainder of the network -- lines to the Network Access Point, the Internet backbone, redundant networks and other elements. Dial-up customers, who do not have dedicated access, would get no break at all. Siding with these Senators are other elected officials who want to increase taxes -- the state governors. Governors of virtually every state (except Colorado, whose Governor Bill Owens stands against taxing the Internet) are lobbying fiercely to see the moratorium defeated. In the end, most Internet access providers in the US will be immediately and permanently driven out of business. The cost of Internet will nearly double for most end users, and will more than double for dial-up customers, as these taxes are passed along. WHAT YOU MUST DO: 1) Go to NoEmailTax.com to get current information. 2) Make certain that every one of your subscribers is aware of the impending new taxes and let them know how to contact their Senators (see http://www.congress.ord for help). 3) Contact your Senator and demand that he or she support the permanent extension of the Allen-Wyden tax moratorium (bill S.150). 4) Make this an issue in your state. Write to the newspapers. Call talk shows. Make it a campaign issue. Get involved, for your own sake and that of your subscribers. 5) If you reside in Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Dakota, Delaware, Alaska, Florida, California or New Jersey, your Senators need to hear from you today on this issue. 6) Forward this alert to every ISP with whom you do business, and every ISP discussion list you belong to. Urge them to take action today. ============================================================= This email is an alert from the US Internet Industry Association, the nation's oldest and largest trade association for Internet commerce, content and connectivity. Information regarding USIIA can be found at http://www.usiia.org. Please communicate this information to other ISPs and Internet companies. "Independent ISPs working together DO make a difference!" Best Regards, Russ Ferguson President/CEO American Alliance of Service Providers 703-590-5284 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** To unsubscribe, send an Email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the body or subject line.
