Briefly in the news

President Bush on Wednesday signed Rep. Chris Cox’s Internet Tax

Nondiscrimination Act at the White House. The bill freezes out more than

30,000 state and local agencies from imposing taxes on some forms of

commerce on and access to the World Wide Web.

For Cox, who represents Newport Beach, the bill extends a moratorium

he put into place with an earlier bill. The ban on “discriminatory” taxes

was first passed in 1998.

The new bill, HR 1552, extends the ban until Nov. 1, 2003. It was

co-written by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Bush lauded the bill, saying the government “should be promoting

Internet usage and availability, not discouraging it with access taxes

and discriminatory taxes.”

The legislation also instructs the federal government to work

aggressively through the European Union and World Trade Organization to

keep electronic commerce free from tariffs and discriminatory taxes.