Here’s what’s even scarier. This Halloween, the U.S. Senate may pull an expensive trick on anyone who uses the Internet to send a message, pay a bill or make an on-line purchase.

The current moratorium on Internet taxation is set to expire this Friday, October 31st, adversely affecting as many as 143 million Americans and doing harm to one of this country’s few economic bright spots – electronic commerce.

Since 1998, the moratorium, known as the Internet Tax Freedom Act, has prevented taxation of Internet access, ensured that online purchases would not be taxed twice and prohibited taxes that treat online purchases differently than offline purchases.

The result, according to today’s Wall Street Journal editorial page, is that “Internet use and electronic commerce are growing rapidly, while the digital divide continues to close. Families making less than $25,000 a year now comprise the fastest-growing segment of the Internet population, according to the Commerce Department.”

While the House passed a bill in September that would make the Internet tax moratorium permanent, the Senate’s efforts to do the same have been derailed by a handful of Republicans “who have decided to dress up as tax-and-spend Democrats for Halloween.”

“Under pressure from the National Governors Association and others who see a digital cash cow in cyberspace, George Voinovich of Ohio and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee have bucked their President and party leaders by joining Democrats Maria Cantwell of Washington and Kent Conrad of North Dakota in holding up the bill. If these renegades are successful and the ban lapses, watch for the tax man to pounce.”

Read what the Wall Street Journal had to say on this topic at www.wsj.com (subscription required) and add your voice to the debate: The Senate Should End the E-Mail Tax Now.

For more information, visit: www.noemailtax.com