The Computer & Communications Industry Association opposes the Marketplace Equity Act, a new bill introduced today by Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., and Rep. Jackie Speier, Calif., that would allow states that have fulfilled certain simplification requirements to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales and use taxes on purchases made to residents of their states — regardless of physical presence.
Despite efforts to simplify the thousands of sales tax codes that currently exist, this bill still imposes burdens that make it difficult for small Internet retailers to compete with large brick-and-mortar stores.
The following statement can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Ed Black:
“E-commerce has enabled businesses to broaden the scope of their activities beyond traditional geographic limitations. It is neither fair nor equitable to negate their achievements and force them to conform to a brick-and-mortar tax system. Saddling online companies with tax collection duties may be a convenient way for state governments to get at revenue, but penalizing businesses for utilizing technology and innovation would be a shortsighted targeting of new revenue models, while protecting existing business models at the expense of consumers and growth.
“Rather than such an unjustified and myopic approach, CCIA hopes that Congress instead takes the approach of H. Res. 95, sponsored by Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., with 30 co-sponsors, which opposes imposing burdensome or unfair tax collecting requirements on small online businesses.”
