An Odd-Bedfellow Coalition

AN ODD-BEDFELLOW COALITION
[SOURCE: National Review Online, AUTHOR: Kristina Rasmussen]
[Commentary] What's this? Democrats and Republicans agreeing? What's next? Dogs hanging out with cats? Key congressional players from both parties have realized the potential gains of making permanent a soon-to-expire federal moratorium on Internet-access taxes. This would mean no discriminatory taxes on Internet services -- a policy more and more Democrats are coming around to support. Why? 1) A low-tax Internet is affordable for Americans of all income levels. Telecom taxes can add 20 percent or more to a wireless phone bill. Because this burden tends to fall hardest on lower-income households, many Democrats don't want to be responsible for putting Internet access out of reach for the very Americans they profess to care the most about. 2) The ban has helped create a dynamic Internet environment that is opening up new employment and commerce opportunities. This is especially good news for the blue states where manufacturing jobs are departing for warmer climates. 3) Democrats can tune their rhetoric on the moratorium so that it’s in sync with the familiar (but shrill) song about “protecting” the Internet with (economically destructive) “net neutrality” rules. It’s hard to imagine the net-neutrality scheme having any upside, but that’s a fight for another day. In the here and now, Democrats gain an undeniable political benefit by relating these two issues.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmQ3NWNkZTgxMDNiNGE0MGIxMGVhZmYzNDY...