|
 |
Posted on 11/07/2014 12:31:29 PM PST by SoConPubbie
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)—the conservative darling who supposedly has his eye on the White House—struck a blow this week for a legion of catalog sellers and Internet retailers who fear a tax catastrophe bearing down on them from Washington.
In an interview with National Review Online, Cruz stated his concern that some of his Republican colleagues would attempt to serve the interests of big retailers in their states by helping Democrats push through the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) during Congress's lame duck session. The bill seeks to force remote sellers to collect and pay taxes to the home states of each of its customers, a prospect that could result in prohibitive administrative and legal costs in the act of compliance.
“There are some voices in Washington who want a lame duck precisely so they can engage in corporate welfare and blame it on the Democrats,” Cruz told the news site. “One of my greatest concerns during a lame duck is that we could see leaders in both parties pushing through a nationwide Internet sales tax. That is one of the favorite causes of the corporate lobbyists on K Street, to jack up taxes on millions of mom-and-pop Internet retailers. Now, that helps all the big businesses at the expense of the little guy.”
Just last June, Republican Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming joined forces with Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin on a back-door play to pass MFA by attaching it to the Internet Tax Freedom Act, an unrelated measure that seeks to ban taxing consumers for broadband Internet usage. It didn't happen, but Cruz and industry groups representing remote sellers fear a reprise of this kind of action during the lame duck.
In an editorial on its website this week, NetChoice, an association of e-commerce companies, lauded Cruz for taking a “brave stand” on Internet taxes. “Sometimes doing the right thing in Washington means calling out your allies when they're in the wrong,” read the piece, which noted that many members of Congress would like to see the contentious issue go away. “If that means passing a bad bill when nobody is paying attention, and then theatrically pointing fingers at each other, so much the better.”
Cruz's statement was also praised by American Catalog Mailers' Association president Hamilton Davison in an email to members this week. “Senator Cruz alone won't stop Congress from attaching Internet sales tax to other must-pass legislation during the lame duck,” Davison warned them and urged them to write to their Congressional representatives pledging their allegiance with the True Simplification of Taxation coalition, the industry lobbying effort aimed at scuttling MFA.
|
|
Such Hubris in the DC Establishment that everytime a penny passes from one person’s hand to another that they are ALWAYS ENTITLED to some of it....
Give them HELL Ted!
Run Ted, Run them OUT OF DC!
Kick their ass' Cruz!
I have never seen a liberal from either party who didn’t like to increase taxes to or make a new tax. It definitely would discourage the mom and pop stores to remain. The liberals are control freaks and want a hand in someone’s pockets. I agree with Ted Cruz on this.
I hate to say this, because I know this will likely be unpopular, but the MFA isn’t a new tax. This is not a new “tax on internet sales”. This is simply a way to collect taxes that are already due - this is a mechanism - nothing else.
When you purchase something online and the seller does not charge you sales tax, that’s because they’re not required to by law. But that doesn’t change the fact that the sale is taxable in your home state. YOU, the buyer are required to self assess and pay Use tax on purchases you make of this nature. Unless the item is exempt. It’s up to the buyer to know the law.
This scheme was put into place in the early 1990s and is vested in the Constitution and a littany of SCOTUS cases (most notable Quill Corp. vs. North Dakota) The problem now is that when these cases were handed down, there was no internet. Sales models were very different then. It’s very easy to do business in a state now without establishing “nexus” which is the requirement for a seller to collect and remit sales taxes. In the internet age, we need a new way of defining “nexus” and that will likely come with a SCOTUS case at some point.
Remember, sellers are “doing you a favor” by collecting sales taxes and remitting on your behalf. Just because they don’t does not change the underlying taxable transaction.
States are beginning to audit this aggressively. it’s always been done at the corporate level, but now individuals are being scrutinized. My business pays 3 times more use tax to our home state than we do sales tax. It’s nothing new.
With SOME exceptions conspicuous by their rarity (Cruz, Lee and a handful of others) looks like the Beltway establishment Pubbies have once again hit the ground CRAWLING. Can GROVELING be far behind?
THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD IS 202-224-3121!
Put it in your speed dial as I suspect we’ll be using it a lot over the next few years and beyond.
WHY?
Here’s why:
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.” — Judge Learned Hand, 1944
It’s worth the call just to experience the WORST “Music on Hold” system in the known universe!
(Ya suppose they’re trying to economize? LOL)
That is one principled man.
With SOME exceptions conspicuous by their rarity (Cruz, Lee and a handful of others) looks like the Beltway establishment Pubbies have once again hit the ground CRAWLING. Can GROVELING be far behind?
THE CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD IS 202-224-3121!
Put it in your speed dial as I suspect we’ll be using it a lot over the next few years and beyond.
WHY?
Here’s why:
“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.” — Judge Learned Hand, 1944
It’s worth the call just to experience the WORST “Music on Hold” system in the known universe!
(Ya suppose they’re trying to economize? LOL)
I’m going to vote for Cruz every chance I get.
And, once they get this. There comes another government
agency to collect the taxes. More government employees.
Where would it end.
No more taxes!
The RINO’s never ever learn
we don’t need the federal government involved in local and state sales tax issues.
See my post above
>> Where would it end.
Not Well wherever that might be.
see my post above your last post too
We will if it elevates to the SCOTUS. When you have disputes at the state level with various and conflicting outcomes, that’s what you’ll get.
And I don’t think the compliance would be very difficult. My company operates in all 50 states. It takes my staff person about 2 hours per month to file 40+ sales tax returns. It’s all automated. It’s all done online.
This could get tricky :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.