NSGA offered its support of the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2015 and actively advocates for its passage. NSGA said the bill would allow local brick-and-mortar retailers to compete on a level playing field with out-of-state sellers.
Specifically, the bill gives states the option to require out-of-state businesses, such as
those selling online or through catalogs, to collect sales and use
taxes already owed under state law the same way local businesses do.
U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) along with Assistant Senate Democratic Leader, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) also sponsored similar legislation during the last Congress which passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis by a vote of 69 to 27 on May 6, 2013.
“NSGA and many of its members have fought for passage of e-fairness as out-of-state Internet sales have continued to take advantage of a government-sanctioned tax loophole,” NSGA president and CEO Matt Carlson said. “We urge Congress to pass this important legislation and send it to the President for his signature this year.”
“The Marketplace Fairness Act is about supporting the jobs we have in our towns. It is about the people who are our neighbors who work in our local stores. Right now, thousands of local businesses are forced to do business at a competitive disadvantage because they have to collect sales and use taxes and remote sellers do not,” said Enzi. “The Marketplace Fairness Act would put Main Street businesses on a level playing field with online retailers. In 2013, the Senate passed this bill with bipartisan support. It’s time to give states the right to enforce their own laws without having to get permission from Washington.”
“Businesses in Illinois are looking for a level playing field,” said Durbin. “We came close in the last Congress, but the bill was never acted on in the House of Representatives. I hope that in the 114th Congress we can do what’s right for businesses in Illinois and around the country.”
“The Marketplace Fairness Act is about two words: states’ rights. I believe in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and I don’t think Tennessee or other states should have to play ‘Mother, may I?’ with the federal government when deciding whether to collect, or not collect, a state tax that is already owed,” said Alexander.
“Our local shops and businesses competing on Main Street compete with Internet retailers who offer the same products and services to the same customers throughout North Dakota, but aren’t held to the same tax collection requirements,” said Heitkamp. “For the past 22 years, small businesses have been waiting for Congress to act on this issue. The time to level the playing field for our local businesses is long overdue. Last Congress, the Senate passed a bill to fix this problem and support small businesses, but the House failed to even bring it up for a vote for a year and a half. Hopefully that changes this year. There is no reason out-of-state sellers should have a leg up over our in-state businesses just because those transactions occur remotely states must have the option to fix policies that discriminate against locally based mom and pop shops.”
Additional cosponsors of the legislation in the Senate include: Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bob Corker (R-TN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Angus King, Jr. (I-ME).
