[There is a bit of action related to policies associated with internet business taxation and taxation of non-brick and mortar businesses. Here are a few article links to read carefully. eBay call to action in support of small business at the bottom of this page.]
House Passes Internet Tax Freedom Act
June 10, 2015
Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) by a voice vote. ITFA, which was first passed into law in 1998, bars federal, state and local governments from taxing Internet access and from imposing discriminatory Internet-only taxes. This is incredibly important as ITFA is one of the laws that allows internet commerce to exist.
ITFA must be renewed periodically, and was done so yesterday by the House. Unfortunately, in the past, proponents of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) tried to attach MFA to an ITFA extension bill, even though the two are in no way related. Although MFA proponents were unsuccessful at doing this in the past, we fully expect them to try this approach again in the Senate as ITFA expires again on October 1st, 2015. As eBay has done since the introduction of the Marketplaces Fairness Act, we will continue to resist the passing of tax legislation that is unfair and harmful to small, Internet-enabled businesses. Read More >>>
Lawmakers introduce Bipartisan Remote Sales Tax Legislation
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Jason Chaffetz and a group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced H.R. 2775, the Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA), a bill that will modernize our nation’s outdated sales tax collection process. The legislation, which will be referred to the House Judiciary Committee because of its interstate commerce nexus, will promote states’ rights, and bring sales tax parity to e-retailers and brick-and-mortar stores.
Lead cosponsors of this bill include: Reps. Steve Womack (R-AR), John Conyers (D-MI), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Suzan Delbene (D-WA).
“A broad coalition of large and small businesses, online and brick-and-mortar retailers, and state and local government leaders asked Congress to modernize our nation’s outdated sales tax collection framework. RTPA would modernize current law and strike the appropriate balance between sales tax parity and a state’s right to manage tax policy within its borders. This bipartisan legislation was developed as part of an open and transparent process, with input from stakeholders on all sides of the issue. I look forward to working with all Members of the House and Senate to return more power to the states and create parity within the retail community.”
The current tax loophole skews the free market. Read More >>>
New Bill Would Require Online Sellers to Collect Sales Tax
By
EcommerceBytes.com
June 16, 2015
The Marketplace Fairness Act failed to secure Congressional approval again last year, but was reintroduced in the Senate in March. This week, a different version surfaced in the House. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced the Remote Transactions Parity Act of 2015 on Monday.
WE R HERE issued a statement against the act, saying it offers an inadequate and evaporating small business exemption that discriminates against platform sellers, and saying it “empowers tax collectors to roam the Internet for money.” READ MORE>>>
[Be certain to read information carefully and understand it from the perspective that is being presented. According to eCommerce Bytes:]
Meanwhile, eBay provided EcommerceBytes with the following statement on the proposed legislation on Monday evening:
The Remote Transaction Parity Act, like the Marketplace Fairness Act, discriminates against small businesses that operate online by holding them to an entirely different and more complicated tax scheme, relative to brick and mortar stores. Just like the MFA, the bill enables states to impose their sales tax rules on small businesses outside of their borders, threatening their success with multiple audits and litigation. We will continue to work with lawmakers to advance polices that ensure small businesses – regardless of their business model – can use the Internet to grow and create jobs.
About the author:
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She’s a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of “Turn eBay Data Into Dollars” (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, “Blogging Heroes” (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to . READ MORE>>>
[A rebuttal article from a blog in opposition of such legislation]:
Remote Transaction Parity Act sure has a LOT of new CSP protections
As covered in our previous Revolving Door From Government – Part 2, we covered Taxometry and their very recent hires. Read More >>>
[Many Members of Congress Support small internet enabled exporters]:
eBay Thanks Trade Promotion Authority Supporters
June 19, 2015
eBay would like to thank the following Members of Congress that recently demonstrated their continued support for small Internet-enabled businesses by voting in favor of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation. TPA is a critical first step toward securing strong trade agreements that modernize trade rules to ensure that small American businesses can use the Internet to access the global marketplace.
According to our 2015 Small Business Global Growth Report, 95 percent of U.S. businesses using eBay are trading internationally, including over 190,000 American businesses that made sales to customers on four or more continents in 2014. Read More >>>
[eBay Mainstreet says small business is the backbone of the American economy]:
Internet Sales Tax
Remote sales tax. Nexus tax. Distant sales tax. Streamlined Sales Tax Project. SSTP. Internet sales tax. Online sales tax. No matter what you call it; eBay Inc. opposes any attempt to impose Internet sales tax collection burdens on small Internet-enabled businesses. As small businesses all across the nation struggle to compete with big box retailers, this is not the time to require small Internet-enabled businesses to take one the additional burdens of collecting and remitting sales taxes in up to 9600 jurisdictions nationwide. Read More >>>
Read our complete policy briefing: Protect Small Businesses: Include a Robust Small Business Exemption in Any Internet Sales Tax Proposal
Or if you would like to join eBay and call on your member of Congress to protect small businesses from this new tax burden, visit our Action Center.
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