By Kenneth Yoon and Tomasz Lipowski
In October of 1998, Congress passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 (the "ITFA"), which (among other things) imposed a moratorium on new taxes on internet/e-commerce for three years. The purpose of the moratorium was to "avoid stifling the potential for an innovative form of technology to provide information, goods, and services quickly and cheaply throughout the world." When the ITFA was originally proposed in 1997, it faced significant opposition, most notably from state and local governments (concerned with loss of sales tax revenues) and various bricks-and-mortar businesses (concerned with internet-based competitors having the advantage of being free from sales tax). Since 1997, the internet and e-commerce have grown, and so has opposition to the idea that internet-based transactions should be protected from new taxes. As October of 2001 draws nearer, the voices calling for new taxes (particularly sales tax) on internet-based
