I offer these thoughts as a reminder of why we all have the same thing at stake in protecting the growth of the new economy and ensuring that the Internet can grow without special, multiple or discriminatory taxes. The Internet is opening up vast new markets, and making them accessible to each of our constituents at home. In fact the brightest area for future growth of the Internet is foreign markets. Reaching overseas markets in no way is going to displace businesses on Main Street. It will at the same time add new revenue for our cities.
American firms excel in the information and media services that are flourishing on the Internet.
That also is our big advantage. This represented the United States largest net surplus among all categories of goods and services offered. Finally, U.S. firms dominate e-commerce, which is the stuff of the Internet. When someone in India, Egypt, or Taiwan buys a product or acquires a service over the Internet, the odds are that 9 times out of 10 they are buying from somebody here in the good old US of A. As more and more U.S. goods and services are sent overseas, and more and more jobs created here at home, this will mean billions of dollars more in taxable salaries and profits. Job creation in Internet-related industries is leading and will continue to lead to an influx of new tax revenues, and a lot more disposable income to spend at the local shopping mall or Main Street business.