ASU students were urged to fight against a possible Internet tax in a presentation Thursday night.
The Associated Students of ASU and the College Republicans presented Jennifer Holder, executive vice-president of NoInternetTax.org, an organization that vows to protect the Internet and consumers from unnecessary taxation.
"Taxation and regulation of the Internet is a very real and serious issue," Holder said.
NoInternetTax.org focuses on people who are Internet users to help the organization resist government taxation.
"The whole speech is geared toward college students," said Oubai Shahbandar, chairman of the College Republicans.
Shahbandar said that because college students are Internet-savvy, they should fight against the proposed tax.
"College students are the ones who will get hurt the most from an Internet tax," he said.
Shahbandar said he is hoping ASU students will stand behind NoInternetTax.org to challenge the Internet tax.
"I don't want my Internet taxed," he said.
Holder's speech fell on the same day that President Bush signed a bill to extend a moratorium, which means the government cannot tax the Internet for another two years. But Holder said in the years to follow there will be many debates.
The proposed tax would apply to almost any activity on the Net including downloads, e-mail, e-Commerce, MP3 files, broadband access and ISP access.
Although the U.S. government has not determined an actual amount for the tax, other nations such as China already have a tax rate per minute on the Internet, Holder said.
The United Nations proposed a plan in which every 100 e-mails would result in a tax of one penny, Holder said.
If a tax were put into effect it would create a "national collection center" which would monitor each person's activity and shopping habits on the Internet.
The public must tell the nation's governors "no," Holder said.
Holder said 43 United States Senators and 44 governors in both political parties support taxing the Internet.
"This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democratic issue. This cuts across all party lines," she said.
Reach Jennifer Voges at jennyvoges@hotmail.com.