Senator from Oregon 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.
105-277[2] 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.
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.
[3][4] The technology of the internet was uniquely challenging to existing regulatory and tax paradigms when the World Wide Web emerged in the 1990s.
[6] In Congress and the White House, preserving the uniquely national and global characteristics of the internet featured more prominently in policy making.
In a white paper entitled “The Framework for Global Electronic Commerce,” the White House pointed to “the Internet’s special characteristics” as reason for its concern “about possible moves by state and local tax authorities to target electronic commerce.”[7] The specter of multiple states and municipalities all simultaneously taxing and regulating commerce on the internet was seen as the far greater concern.
[10] The Internet Tax Freedom Act was then added to the omnibus appropriations bill for that year, and signed into law by President Clinton as Titles XI and XII of P.L.
[18] President Obama signed it on February 24, 2016, finally making the Internet Tax Freedom Act permanent after nearly two decades.