AJC Letter

Pass Telecommuter Tax Fairness Act

While Congress is helping citizens tap the Web's power by prohibiting

Internet access taxes and double taxation of online sales ("Internet tax

ban extension OK'd," Business, Nov. 20), it must also take up the

Telecommuter Tax Fairness Act, introduced in September by Sen.

Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.).

The bill would ban a personal income tax rule applied by a number of

states under which employees choosing to telecommute part time to

businesses outside their home states may have to pay taxes to both

their home states and their employers' states. Because interstate

telecommuting so often depends on use of the Internet, this state tax

rule effectively double-taxes online commerce.

If the Internet's bridges and tunnels must be free to assure its wide-scale use,

Congress must pass the Telecommuter Tax Fairness Act.

NICOLE GOLUBOFF

Goluboff, of Scarsdale, N.Y., is a lawyer specializing in the legal consequences

of telework and the author of "The Law of Telecommuting."