House members re-introduce internet tax, Title II blocking bills

Lexology reports:

Last Friday, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers re-introduced legislation that would extend permanently provisions of the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) that prohibit state and local governments from collecting taxes on Internet access in all but a few grandfathered jurisdictions. That bill was followed by the re-introduction by House Communications

Subcommittee Vice-Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) of legislation that would block FCC efforts to reclassify broadband Internet access as a common carrier telecommunications service under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act.

Sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and ranking House Communications & Technology Subcommittee member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) resembles a similar bill that passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. The IFTA has been extended five times since 1998, and House and Senate lawmakers recently included language in must-pass appropriations legislation that extends the IFTA until October 1 of this year. Applauding that extension as “a necessary measure to avoid expiration of the ban that has protected access to broadband for every American and protected the growth of our digital economy,” Eshoo described the permanent Internet tax ban proposed by the PITFA as “the next crucial step.” Goodlatte agreed, stating “the time has come to make this ban permanent” as “all Americans benefit from tax-free access to the Internet.”

The struggle over who's going to be taxed.