A Jacksonville technology attorney says a two-year extension of the ban on Internet-related taxes is not sufficient. Scott Draughon applauds President Bush's extension of the Internet Tax Moratorium, but says the two year time period needs to be extended.

"It's discouraging because it's not a long enough time to establish stability on the Internet," Draughon said. "This business of trying to tax the Internet is complicated."

The Internet-fee tax ban, enacted three years ago, expired October 21. Opponents have argued that the moratorium gives Internet competitors an unfair advantage over traditional retailers. Retailing associations have estimated that state sales taxes on e-commerce purchases in 2000 were close to $26 billion dollars. Draughon disagrees, saying only about one percent of the total retail sales in the country were Internet sales.

"It's hard to enforce use tax in cyberspace," Draughon said. "You've got to get all buyers to voluntarily file and pay the tax. And that's not likely to happen."