New Proposal Would Modernize the Copyright Office's Outdated Technology

On December 8, 2016, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member John Conyers proposed to modernize the U.S. Copyright Office for the 21^st Century. The proposal would allow the Copyright Office to have autonomy over its budget and technology needs. The proposal also would allocate to the Copyright Office the necessary funds for information technology modernization, enabling the Copyright Office to maintain a “searchable, digital database of historical and current copyright ownership information.”

The Copyright Office is long overdue for technology modernization and FSF scholars have made multiple statements regarding this need. (See here, here, and here.) Modernization is necessary for our copyright system to achieve its important purposes of protecting artists’ and creators’ rights to earn a return on their labor and to facilitate market transactions in copyrights in a way that promotes “the Progress of Science and useful Arts.”

We commend Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers for their proposal and hope it quickly passes through the House of Representatives.

House Scheduled to Vote on the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act

This week the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Permanent Internet Tax Act (HR 235), which would ban state and local taxes on Internet access.

The current ban on Internet access taxes has been extended many times since it originated in 1998 (and is set to expire once again on October 1, 2015). But if this legislation passes, the ban would become permanent and discriminatory taxes on e-commerce would also be prohibited, according to this article in The Hill.

It is very important for consumers and Internet Service Providers that the House pass this legislation. Taxes imposed on any good or service raise the price, resulting in a decrease in the quantity demanded from consumers. Whether taxes are shifted on consumers or businesses, the elasticity of demand and supply allows for both sides of the market to inherit the burden, ultimately leading to less economic activity and growth.

Taxes on Internet access would be particularly regressive because it is often the poorest people that do not connect to the Internet. A tax on Internet access could push the price of broadband beyond many of the poorest consumers’ willingness to pay.  Even if a person had not adopted broadband service prior to the tax being levied, the increase in price would make that person less likely to adopt. Raising the price of an Internet access would be counterproductive to the many government programs that aim to connect America’s poorest individuals.

I commend Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte for introducing the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act and I urge the House to pass it.

House Committee Passes Bill To Permanently Ban Internet Access Taxes

As reported by news outlets, the House Judiciary Committee has just passed H.R. 3086 - "The Permanent Tax Freedom Act." The legislation was approved with a 30-4 vote. 

H.R. 3086 is sponsored by Chairman Bob Goodlatte, and co-sponsored by Reps. Eshoo, Bachus, Cohen, and Chabot. As the title suggests, the bill would extend the current moratorium on federal and state Internet access taxes by making it a permanent tax ban. The existing moratorium is set to expire at the end of 2014.

Congratulations to the sponsor, co-sponsors, and House Judiciary Committee. The Committee's vote on H.R. 3086 is an important step toward permanently ensuring that Internet access will remain tax free.