Bernie Becker

Senate Democrats are gearing up to pass a short-term extension of a moratorium on Internet access taxes, according to aides and K Street officials. The Internet Tax Freedom Act expires on Nov 1, and Democratic leaders are pushing to extend the moratorium through 2014.

A bipartisan group of senators, including Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), is seeking to merge a proposal barring states from levying taxes on Internet access with a more contentious measure that would give states more power to charge sales tax on online purchases.

Aides also stressed that Senate supporters weren’t backing away from their plan to merge the Internet access measure and the online sales tax bill, and that they were setting up a push for the combined bill in the fall or after November’s election.