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Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce Posts Issues & Policy Options Paper
Commission Preps for San Francisco Meeting Next Week

Arlington, VA - December 10, 1999 - The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce today released its Issues and Policy Options Paper, which the Commission will consider at its meeting in San Francisco next week. The Paper, submitted by the Commission's Report Drafting Subcommittee to the full Commission, includes a distillation of discussions at the Commission's previous meetings and considerable input from Commissioners. The Commission's Work Plan, approved at its New York meeting in September, called for creation of the Paper. The 25-page Paper has been posted on the Commission's Web site at www.ecommercecommission.org. It consists of an introduction, endnotes, some areas of potential agreement that surfaced in the drafting process, and the following seven sections:

• International Tax and Tariff Issues
• Tax Treatment of Internet Access
• Tax Treatment of Telecommunications Service Providers
• The Application of Transactions Taxes to Sales Conducted Through the Internet
• Impact on Business Activity Taxes
• Redress Mechanism for Imposition of Unconstitutional State and Local Taxes
• Digital Divide

In addition, the Commission will hear presentations from representatives of 14 of the 37 proposals the Commission received. The inputs were submitted in response to the Commission's invitation for proposals regarding possible taxation of electronic commerce transactions. The meeting will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, December 14-15 in the Colonial Room of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. The meeting will be Web-cast through the Commission's Web site where a detailed agenda is also available.

About the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce

Appointed by Congress in October 1998 as part of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, the 19-member Commission has been tasked with studying the impact of federal, state, local and international taxation and tariffs on transactions using the Internet and Internet access. The Commission's recommendations are due to Congress no later than April 21, 2000.