Posted on 12/06/2012 11:10:02 AM PST by Red Badger
This may be the last Christmas of online shopping without paying sales tax.
A proposed online sales tax has been offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, much to the ire of opponents.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association, a group that opposes this move, says that an online sales tax will burden small businesses, “some of the most promising candidates for future economic growth.”
“This proposal, and other online sales tax collection proposals like it, would allow states to penalize the innovative e-commerce business model by targeting small online businesses as convenient sources (and collectors) of revenue,” said CCIA President and CEO Ed Black.
The Marketplace Fairness Act, and its House counterpart the Marketplace Equity Act, seek to clarify, and arguably overturn, a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that requires retailers to have a physical presence in a state in order to collect sales tax on goods.
“Severing the relationship between taxation and physical presence would be a fundamental transformation in how we consider taxes,” Black continued. “Such a significant step deserves more extensive consideration than attachment to the unrelated Defense Authorization bill.”
Still, a recent poll indicates that the majority of Americans support the idea, describing an online sales tax as “common sense”. They also feel that a tax for online purchases would encourage people to buy local and keep tax dollars in their community.
“Local retailers invest in their communities and play a significant role in the overall quality of life in the places we call home,” said Betsy Laird, senior vice president of global public policy for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Collecting the tax across state lines however poses as a challenge for small businesses that sell their goods in multiple states.
“It is not the job of small businesses to collect taxes to provide tax revenue relief for state and local governments outside their jurisdiction,” Black said, suggesting that an online tax would protect existing businesses at the expense of consumers and growth.
Some Republicans are on board, with Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi as “the most overlooked tax loophole.”
“We are optimistic that once the Marketplace Fairness Act is brought for a vote, it will have enough support to pass,” said Illinois Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin’s spokeswoman, Christina Mulka.
Both Sens. Durbin and Enzi have offered the bill as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
“Sen. Durbin is focused on working with his colleagues to try to get a vote on the bill before the end of this year, whether as a stand-alone bill or part of a larger piece of legislation,” Mulka said. “They are keeping all options on the table at this point.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/04/online-sales-tax-to-be-added-to-defense-authorization-bill/#ixzz2EIfvANTs
Next year I am going so Galt the NSA will think I must have died.
Matters to me.
Still good bulk ammo sales available on line...
Americans sure have gone far to the side of government-induced behavior modification and away from personal freedom. I truly do not recognize this country anymore.
There are states where the sales tax rate changes town to town, county to county and borough to borough. How the heck are online retailers supposed to keep up with THAT?
Or the gazillion exceptions and exemptions in the PA sales tax code?
If it has enough support to pass, let it stand on its own merit and don't piggyback it off a defense bill.
Our inillustrious Congress....
Notice that Mike Enzi is all for it. Go figure. He has no clue as to what this would do to small businesses. I’ve spent my business career since 1996 helping large corporations navigate multi-state sales and use tax issues (and other excise taxes). Asking a small seller to keep up with the tax laws of thousands of jurisdictions is ridiculous. All it will do is kill small business and create a new bureaucracy.
Right?
It’s just another Golden egg laying Goose the Government wants to kill in their never-ending effort to tax every stinking dime out of Americans .
Shop from NH
Taxes, taxes, taxes. :)
You voted for them America - now fork it over.
Pay your fair share. The liberals running the government won’t, so you’ll have to pick up the slack. LOL!
And exactly what freaking poll would that be!
That’s how you know America is dead. The people seek to tax themselves. The SHEEP have come home to roost. Thanks, teachers. /s
The International Council of Shopping Centers??????
oh well anyway. Here de Vat, here come de Vat everybody ready cuz here. one de VAT!
WTF?
America is not a majoritarian country. We’re founded as a republic in which majority opinoin doesn’t count. It’s the entire idea of individual rights.
Sounds like a Scott Brown clone.
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