Sample Letter Urging Senators
to Support a Simple Extension of Current Law
Date
Honorable
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
RE: Opposition to S. 150
Dear [Senator]:
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Local governments urge you to oppose S. 150 because it unnecessarily
expands the recently expired moratorium on Internet access taxes
to include certain telecommunications services. The Multistate Tax
Commission estimates that this expansion will cost state and local
governments $4 to $8.75 billion annually. We estimate that the state
of __________ and its local governments could lose up to ______
million annually in state and local tax revenue.
As you know, __________ has some of lowest utility taxes of any
state. And like other states, we are facing a severe budget crisis.
Congress should not be prohibiting state and local governments from
requiring Internet and telecommunications service providers to pay
the same state and local taxes that any other business in the state
pays for the privilege of doing business in our communities. On
behalf of the local governments responsible for delivering the bulk
of services to __________ residents, we urge you to not take any
action that that would strip away our existing tax authority and
create a multi-billion dollar unfunded mandate.
State and local governments are not opposed to a temporary extension
of the moratorium that expired November 1, 2003. We are opposed
to any expansion or permanentization of the moratorium and the proposed
“fixes” to the amended S. 150 do not take care of problems
identified by state and local governments. Our best estimates are
that the proposed changes would still cost state and local governments
$2 to $4 billion annually. Because of the cost and uncertainty associated
with both S. 150 and the proposed Managers’ amendment, __________
local governments join all the organizations of state and local
elected officials – National Governors Association, National
League of Cities, United States Conference of Mayors, National Association
of Counties, International County and City Managers Association,
National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors,
and TeleCommUnity – in pushing for a simple extension of current
law until industry, Congress and state and local government groups
can produce language that is thoughtful and fiscally fair.
We urge you to oppose S. 150 to support an amendment on the Senate
floor to change S. 150 to a simple extension of the current moratorium.
In the alternative, we ask you to ensure that state and local governments
are afforded the opportunity to have a full debate on this issue,
so please accept no time limits on debate. No state or local government
official was ever given the opportunity to debate this matter in
Committee.
Sincerely,
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