Attention Internet Shoppers
In The Hill today:The Senate passed the bipartisan Marketplace Fairness Act by a 69 to 27 vote on Monday, with most Democrats — except for five who represent states without a sales tax — backing the bill.Senate Republicans split roughly down the middle — 21 for, and 22 against — on the proposal. The breakdown underscores that the measure likely faces a rockier path in the GOP-controlled House.
Tea Party Patriots had alerted members before the Senate vote:
Naturally, state and local governments are
salivating at the prospect of getting a purported $23 billion in new revenue
from the private economy. Especially when the out-of-state consumers paying
those taxes and the out-of-state businesses owners who collect them can’t vote
them out of office.
Last but not least, this bill doesn’t pass
constitutional muster. The MFA overturns the fundamental idea that states’
taxing authority ends at their borders. The Supreme Court has said that an
out-of-state business could subject itself to a state’s taxing power if
due-process concerns are satisfied, namely that the business purposefully
targets its activities in that state. But because pure Internet sales by their
nature don’t target any one state, this legislation presents a serious
constitutional problem.
In addition to the ... reasons cited above, the bill would make bad law because it would be a bureaucratic nightmare. . . :
[Lawmakers] who vote for it are voting to impose
audits, compliance costs, lost wages, and inefficiency on small businesses in
every state. And they are potentially crippling an engine of new job creation at
a time of economic struggle. This bill will not create jobs; it will not create
new opportunities; and it will not create the economic growth our country needs
and our people deserve.
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Now that this bad bill has passed the Senate, we'll have to double down on the House as soon as it gets on the calendar.
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