Congress urged to extend Net tax-free zone

Net bosses in the US voiced their concerns about the future of Internet taxation during a day of talks with politicians in Washington DC. Lobbyists from the US Net industry schmoozed with Capitol Hill's finest to try and influence the direction of future legislation. In particular, they're worried about what will happen when the three-year moratorium on Internet taxation -- a concession granted from the Internet Tax Freedom Act passed last year -- is lifted. Executives from companies including Buena Vista Internet Group and Yahoo! met politicians in Washington DC as part of the Association of Interactive Media (AIM) business group. "The only way the Internet industry will be able to defend itself from government regulation is meeting face-to-face with members of Congress, especially those most interested in protecting this burgeoning marketplace," said Ben Isaacson, Acting Executive Director of AIM. "Every day a new piece of Internet legislation appears somewhere in Congress. Only through meetings like this can these issues of interest be brought to the forefront of the industry's attention," he said. ®