{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2004-12-20-pt1-PgE2211-5", "2004-12-20", 108, 2, null, null, "DIRECTING SECRETARY OF SENATE TO CORRECT ENROLLMENT OF S. 150", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "ALLOTHER", "E2211", "E2212", "[{\"name\": \"F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"108\", \"type\": \"S\", \"number\": \"150\"}]", "150 Cong. Rec. E2211", "Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 140 (Monday, December 20, 2004)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 140 (Monday, December 20, 2004)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Pages E2211-E2212]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n     DIRECTING SECRETARY OF SENATE TO CORRECT ENROLLMENT OF S. 150\n\n                                 ______\n\n                               speech of\n\n                    HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.\n\n                              of wisconsin\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Friday, November 19, 2004\n\n  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, on November 19, 2004, the House\npassed both S. Con. Res. 146 and S. 150 under suspension of the rules\nby voice vote. The amendments made to S. 150 as it was passed by the\nSenate included a provision that ended some state taxation of Internet\naccess previously interpreted to be allowed by the original 1998\nmoratorium grandfather exceptions. The final\n\n[[Page E2212]]\n\nenrolled version of S. 150 was signed by President Bush on December 3,\n2004, and became Public Law 108-435.\n  As Chairman of the Committee of jurisdiction in the House, I wish to\nremark further upon the meaning and intent of Section 1104(a)(2) of the\nfinal enrolled version of S. 150 that became Public Law. The intent of\nthis section is to clarify ambiguities associated with the Internet Tax\nFreedom Act (Pub. L. 106-277, Div. C. Title XI (1998)) (``ITFA''),\nwhich created a moratorium on State taxation of Internet access and on\nmultiple and discriminatory taxation of electronic commerce. The ITFA\ncontained an exemption for States that had generally imposed or\nactually enforced a tax on Internet access prior to October 1, 1998.\nThus, States that qualified for ``grandfather'' status could continue\nto tax Internet access.\n  Subsequent to 1998, however, litigation arose between State taxing\nauthorities and various Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who\nmaintained that certain States wrongly taxed them and their customers\nfor Internet access even though such States had never qualified for\ngrandfather status. One example is that of Tennessee, whose\nCommissioner of Revenue had assessed sales and use taxes on Internet\naccess based on the State's tax on ``telecommunications services.'' An\nISP (Prodigy) challenged the tax and, following several years of\nlitigation, the Tennessee Court of Appeals eventually ruled that the\nprovision of Internet access did not constitute a taxable event within\nthe Tennessee statute. Thus, Tennessee had never met the requirements\nfor grandfather status under the ITFA to tax Internet access.\n  Similarly, Wisconsin taxation authorities claimed to qualify for\ngrandfather status under the ITFA based on a broad State tax on\n``telecommunications services'' which was subsequently applied to\nencompass Internet access through an administrative ruling. Like\nTennessee, ISPs have challenged Wisconsin's status as a\n``grandfathered'' State under the pre-October 1998 provisions of the\nITFA. The crux of the ISPs' argument is that the tax statutes of\nTennessee and Wisconsin differ from those of other grandfathered States\nthat meet the conditions of the ITFA. Where other grandfathered States'\nstatutes impose taxes on all services unless an exemption exists, those\nof States like Wisconsin and Tennessee only tax services if they are\nenumerated in the statute specifically. Since neither State's statute\ntaxed Internet access explicitly, they were never entitled to assess\ntaxes on Internet access within their States as the ITFA was intended\nto be construed by Congress.\n  In order to provide clarity about the original intent of Congress and\nthe ITFA, and in order to end further litigation, Section 1104(a)(2)\nstates that the grandfather provision of the ITFA will terminate after\nNovember 1, 2007 with the exception of a State telecommunications\nservice tax enacted by State law on or after October 1, 1991 and\napplied to Internet access through administrative code or regulation\nissued on or after December 1, 2002.\n  Section 1104(a)(2) should also serve notice that Congress finds\nparticularly egregious the attempts of some States, like Wisconsin, to\navoid the Congressional intent and the general moratorium by seeking to\nimpose preexisting telecommunications taxes on Internet access after\nthe enactment of the ITFA through administrative ruling rather than an\nact of the legislature. It is also the intent of this section to deter\nany similar efforts by States in the future.\n  As of November 19, 2004, Congress believes that only Wisconsin of the\nremaining grandfathered states under the 1998 ITFA meets the particular\ngeneral qualifying criteria set forth in Section 1104(a)(2)(B)(i) &\n(ii). Therefore the effect of Section 1104(a)(2) will be to end\nWisconsin's grandfathered ability to collect taxes on Internet access\nby November 1, 2006. However, if any other grandfathered States are\nsubsequently found to meet the same generally applicable criteria, they\nshould be treated similarly and their grandfathered taxation status\nshould also end by November 1, 2006."]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2004-12-20-pt1-PgE2211-5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 10.197971016168594, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}