Democrat Bill Will Raise Household Internet Costs
House Democrats today introduced a bill to attempt an end run around the Internet Tax Freedom Act. The new Democrat bill, laughably called the Save The Internet Act, will raise household internet costs by about 20 percent.
“The Democrat bill labeled the ‘save the internet act’ is simply Washington empowering local government to raise taxes on the internet without even holding a vote,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
Details:
– The Universal Service Fee currently only applies to telecommunications services such as voice communications. However, it is not applied to any data services such as home internet usage or mobile data. The Democrat bill would classify internet as a telecommunications service. This would allow federal, state, and local governments to impose the universal fees on your data connections.
– At the federal level, the fees are about 20 percent. In the 44 states (and the District of Columbia) that impose their own universal service fee, costs will be even higher. Government authorities will be able to impose this fee without a vote.
– Federal, state and local governments are barred from taxing the internet thanks to the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which was first enacted in 1998 and made permanent in 2016. But if Democrats legislatively re-categorize the internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, there is nothing stopping state, local and federal government from slapping the fees onto Americans’ internet services.
The real goal of Pelosi’s “Save the Internet” legislation is the extraction of funds from American households. Internet costs in your home and on your mobile phone will go up if Democrats have their way.