“Legislation in the U.S. Congress that would allow states to collect sales tax on Internet sales will not pass before the end of the year because of opposition from Speaker of the House John Boehner,” Grant Gross reports for PCWorld. “Boehner’s opposition to the Main Street Fairness Act means the bill, which would allow states and local governments to collect sales taxes on Internet sales by businesses located outside their borders, will not pass during this session of Congress.”
“Boehner has long opposed efforts to expand Internet sales taxes, said spokesman Kevin Smith. ‘The speaker has made clear in the past he has significant concerns about the bill, and it won’t move forward this year,’ Smith said by email Tuesday,” Gross reports. “Opponents of the bill say it would amount to a new tax on Internet shoppers, although many small businesses would be exempt from collecting taxes. A new tax collection system, covering potentially thousands of U.S. taxing jurisdictions, would also be costly for Internet sellers to set up, critics say. Supporters of the legislation say current tax collection rules prohibiting out-of-state Internet sales taxes are unfair to brick-and-mortar retailers that are required to charge sales tax. Instead of the sales tax bill, Boehner called on the House and Senate to work together to extend a moratorium on Internet access and transit taxes, which expires in mid-December.”
“Generation Opportunity, a libertarian group aimed at so-called millennial young U.S. residents, praised Boehner for killing the sales tax measure. The group has asked members to contact lawmakers in opposition of the Marketplace Fairness Act,” Gross reports. “The Internet sales tax is ‘Washington at its worst: a measure pushed by corporate lobbyists that would disproportionately harm millennials, who do much of their shopping online and use the web to create their own jobs,’ the group said in a statement.”
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