Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Federal Appropriations Transportation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Congressman Merrill Cook urges Utah lawmakers to press for transit funding, opposes Internet taxation
Summary
Visiting Congressman Merrill Cook told the Utah House that federal appropriators could deliver hundreds of millions for highways and transit and argued for a permanent ban on Internet taxes; members pressed him on local revenue impacts and gun policy.
Congressman Merrill Cook, visiting the Utah House in a Committee of the Whole, urged state lawmakers to press congressional appropriators for transportation funding and warned against Internet taxation.
"We expect up to another $100,000,000 can come in to help that important effort," Cook said of Olympic-related projects and added that the federal government will continue funding highways, citing "$210,000,000 for highways next year" and an effort to free "up to $600,000,000 for mass transit," from which he said "$200,000,000 in the second half of the [106th] Congress" could be obtained for commuter rail and related projects. He urged the Legislature and local councils to present a united case to appropriators.
On taxation, Cook said he would press to eliminate the estate ("death") tax and the alternative minimum tax and advocated a moratorium "that's not just temporary on Internet taxation and make it permanent." He argued the Internet is a distinct form of commerce and that taxing access or sales would be disruptive: "The fact is taxing the Internet would be the silliest, most disruptive thing...that we could do to the American economy right now," he said.
Members questioned Cook about the reach and effect of a federal ban. Representative Garn asked whether legislation would "continue the ban on access fees or would it ban sales tax on goods sold over the Internet?" Cook responded, "Both." Representative Jones pressed whether states and local governments would be left without a vital revenue stream; Cook acknowledged the concern but said national uniformity was the only practical solution to interstate commerce and urged local officials to pursue tax relief initiatives at the state level.
Cook also addressed national land designations and gun policy, criticizing what he called executive overreach under the Antiquities Act and urging enforcement of existing firearms laws rather than immediate new restrictions. "The problem is not that we need a whole lot more gun legislation," he said, arguing for better enforcement of current law.
The House dissolved the Committee of the Whole after the exchange and returned to its calendar of bills and resolutions.
