CFRW Action Item: Say NO to the Internet sales tax

Washington is always busy. Now we have the “Marketplace Fairness Act.”

Harry Reid stated that he intends for the U.S. Senate to vote on a bill on Sunday, April 28th that would allow states to force online retailers to collect sales taxes for the states, regardless of the retailer’s actual physical location. U.S. lawmakers want to create an internet sales tax and allow states the power to tax outside their border-based jurisdictions. This goes against the 1992 Supreme Court ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota.

The “Marketplace Fairness Act” has been sponsored in the House (HR 682) by Rep. Steve Womack and in the Senate (S. 336) by Senator Mike Enzi.

More money would go to inefficient state governments. Online retailers would be forced to abide by as many as 9,600 tax jurisdictions!

This act would be an incredible bureaucratic nightmare. Online retailers would be forced to navigate just under 10,000 local, municipal and state tax jurisdictions. These businesses would also be subject to auditors from every state where they have customers. A business could face up to 50 state auditors at once.

Former Senator Jim DeMint stated: Politicians want this bill passed to raise new tax revenue for broken state governments facing budget shortfalls. But legislators in state capitals don’t want to make the hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes on their constituents – they fear the voter backlash. So they’d like their allies in Washington to make it legal for them to tax people who can’t vote against them.

This is a nationally mandated Internet sales tax on business.

Here are possible contacts to make in Washington.

Phone Fax
Representative Steve Womack...Arkansas...(202) 225-4301...(202) 225-5713
Representative Harold Rogers...Kentucky...(202) 225-4601...(202) 225-0940
Senator Mike Enzi...Wyoming...(202) 224-3424...(202) 228-0359
Senator Mitch McConnell...Kentucky...(202) 224-2541...(202) 224-2499
Senator Barbara Boxer...California...(202) 224-3553...(202) 224-0454
Senator Diane Feinstein...California...(202) 224-3841...(202) 228-3954

Thank you for your work.

Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair
Northern Division - CFRW
www.cfrwnd.org