Last week we posted an action alert urging people to contact Senator Rob Portman and Senator Sherrod Brown and ask them to vote against the Market Fairness Act (Internet Sales Tax).
While Portman, in humoring what is left of his conservative base, voted against the Senate Budget, he joined in with his new Bi-Partisan Buddy, Senator Sherrod Brown, and voted in support of the Market Fairness Act, aka -- Internet Sales Tax.
And, shrugging off the Sequester Cuts and the fiscal mess our country is facing, in again holding hands with his new voting pal in the U.S. Senate, Portman joined in with Sherrod Brown and voted against the amendment offered by Senator Ted Cruz to reduce aid for the Muslim Brotherhood aligned forces in Egypt.
From Red State --
Early Saturday morning, the Senate adopted its first concurrent budget resolution in four years. Democrats cleverly made sure to hand out enough hall passes to vulnerable red state senators so they could vote against the $1 trillion tax increase, while ensuring that it ultimately passed 50-49. Senators Baucus, Begich, Hagan, and Pryor were given the green light to vote no. After a 13-hour “votarama” on 70 amendments, there is a lot to digest. Obviously, none of this will have the force of law as all of the amendments that passed are attached to this budget resolution, which is dead on arrival in the House. However, there are some important votes that can be used against Democrats in vulnerable seats, such as those pertaining to Obamacare, abortion, cap and trade, and guns.
On the Republican side, perhaps the most egregious vote was the Enzi amendment to allow states to form a cartel and collect internet sales taxes for other states. The so-called Market Fairness Act passed in the form of a second degree amendment by 75-24, with the support of 26 Republicans. This will send the message to Harry Reid that he has more than 60 votes to pass this as a standalone bill. In doing so, they have voted to grow government all over the country, hurt low-tax states, impose taxation without representation, saddle small businesses with collecting taxes for 10,000 distinct tax jurisdictions, and adulterate the freest most successful entity known to man. You can read more about it here.
Here are the 26 Republicans:
Alexander
Blunt
Boozman
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Collins
Corker
Crapo
Enzi
Fischer
Graham
Hoeven
Isakson
Johanns
Johnson, R
Kirk
McCain
Moran
Portman
Risch
Sessions
Shelby
Thune
Wicker
One other important vote from a Republican vantage point was Ted Cruz’s amendment to reduce foreign aid to Egypt. It only garnered the support of 25 senators. I’ll check back with more updates after fully digesting all the votes.
Here's the reply I received from Senator Brown today:
ReplyDeleteThank you for getting in touch with me about taxing out-of-state internet sales.
Under current law, internet purchases made across state lines are exempt from taxation at the time of sale. While taxpayers are supposed to report these online purchases on their tax returns, very few actually do so. This puts community businesses at a significant disadvantage relative to large national and international corporations that operate in stores and online. And, as more people make purchases online, state and local governments lose billions of dollars of revenue that could be used to hire local law enforcement, provide emergency services, and maintain common spaces.
The Marketplace Fairness Act would allow the state in which a purchaser resides to automatically collect sales tax on remote purchases. To keep this requirement from overburdening individual internet sellers and small internet businesses, small online vendors (under $1 million in annual sales) will not have to collect tax on any goods sold across state lines.
To protect Ohio’s small businesses and local governments, I support creating a uniform sales tax policy for goods purchased online and in stores. I remain committed to promoting a business environment that treats brick-and-mortar stores and internet retailers equally.
Should additional legislation on internet purchases come before the Senate, I will be sure to keep your views in mind. Thank you again for getting in touch with me.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
United States Senator