Occasionally, the government gets something right. Today the US House of Representatives voted 402-0 to pass an extension of the existing ban on Internet access taxes until 2014. The bill voted on today by the House is approval of the same bill voted up unanimously by the Senate last week. As we all remember from Schoolhouse Rock, the bill's destined to hit the president's desk, where it is expected to be signed quickly into law (until then, it's just a bill, up on Capitol Hill..).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi engaged in a little bit of Democratic backtracking, on the one hand reprimanding Republicans for allowing the ban to temporarily lapse, while glossing over the fact that House Democrats originally only wanted to extend the bill for four years.
The bill only bars states from taxing connections to the internet, but allows taxation on voice, audio or video programming such as IPTV or VOIP, so look for those taxes coming to a bill near you soon!
[via CNet]
