We've had a lot on the blog (here, here, and here for starters) about the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which is essential to ensuring that the internet remains the engine of economic dynamism and agent of creativity that it is.
The Senate passed the bill last week and it is headed to President Obama's desk. This means that those of us who depend on the internet will not be burdened by taxes from greedy jurisdictions which will stifle growth to help defray the costs of their bloated budgets.
In the spirit of noting the role of a GOP leadership that gets more opprobrium that praise, Forbes magazine observed of the passage of the legislation:
This did not happen by accident or without strong leadership from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a perennial punching bag target of the perpetually-aggrieved wing of the conservative movement. He and his team deserve credit for delivering a solid conservative win for taxpayers. They did so while shrewdly negotiating with both Democrats and with reluctant senators within their own conference.
Passage of a permanent internet tax freedom act, or PITFA, is a success a long time coming for conservatives. Some of my fellow travelers on the Right might do well to mark that we did not win this long struggle once and for all by sending out an incendiary and divisive email to the grassroots, or shutting down the government, or calling into question the intestinal fortitude of the leadership.
Rather, this fight was won by a very smart game of Senate chess played by a grand master, Senator McConnell. He used the arcane upper chamber rules to conservative advantage, and cut the right deals with the right senators to get us to the promised land.