Capitol Confidential
Breitbart.com
Big Government
7/21/2012
…By allowing states to require out-of-state, online-only retailers to collect and remit sales taxes already owed but rarely paid on purchases by state residents, Congress would ensure that states have far less rationale for pursuing new taxes, such as a value-added-tax (VAT) or income taxes in states that currently lack them, or increases in income tax and sales tax rates. Doing so is currently barred in the absence of congressional action under the Supreme Court’s Quill v North Dakotadecision.
“If Congress fails to authorize states to collect tax on remote sales, and electronic commerce continues to grow, we are implicitly blessing a situation where states will be forced to raise other taxes– such as income or property taxes– to offset the growing loss of sales tax revenue. We do not want this to happen,” said bill sponsor Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) in a recent statement on the Senate floor. “The Marketplace Fairness Act empowers states to make the decision themselves. If they choose to collect already existing sales taxes on all purchases regardless of where the sale was whether it was inline (sic) or in a store, they can. If they want to keep the things the way they are, the states can do that.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) also says that Marketplace Fairness is about states’ rights. “The reason why this bill is inevitable and why I hope it will pass… is because it is a simple 11-page bill about a 2-word issue: States rights,” Alexander said in recent floor remarks. “That is why Governor Christie and Governor Daniels and Governor Bush and Congressman Pence and many Republicans and many conservatives are saying let’s pass it. Let’s get out of the way and let States make their own decisions, and then the States can decide from whom they want to collect their sales taxes.”…
Read the complete article at Big Government.
