The debate over Internet sales taxes looks to heat up next week with the expected introduction of a bill in the U.S. Congress. The proposed legislation is being pushed by the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP), a group of tax collectors, large retailers, and state policymakers.
Declan McCullagh of CNET News.com today published a detailed story on the effort by SSTP forces to push this through Congress. NetChoice executive director Steve DelBianco is quoted extensively throughout the story.
NetChoice has worked long and hard to oppose SSTP efforts to force catalog and online retailers to collect sales tax in states where they have no physical presence. We understand the desire by states to find new sources of revenue. But the SSTP has not lived up to its promise of simplification. If adopted, it would introduce complexities and burdens that would raise costs for many small businesses, who are the lifeblood of our economy and a substantial contributor to the very tax base that states rely upon.
And these new costs would inevitably drive up prices paid by consumers, who are desperately seeking bargains in this struggling economy.