From SaintPetersblog:

A study released Monday by the National Taxpayers Union and the R-Street Institute shows that Florida voters polled oppose a federal bill that would force online retailers to collect sales tax on online purchase…

Sounds complicated right? Well, that’s one of the reasons the Washington D.C.-based R-Street Institute is opposing the MFA.

“In order for businesses to set up a framework, the amount of capital to comply with this law might discourage people from entering the marketplace,” R-Street state director Christian Camara said.

While he admits his group hasn’t crunched specific numbers, Camara argues complying with the MFA would be a costly endeavor, especially for small businesses that turn to online retail instead of forking over the capital for a brick and mortar store. Those costs, he says, would increase bookkeeping expenses and update websites…

Both Schalk and Camara agree on what they see as a reasonable compromise. Instead of requiring companies to have a complicated set of criteria for remitting sales tax to states where purchasers live, an R-Street proposal would require the companies to pay the sales tax to the states where the business is based. This, Schalk argues, would foster tax competition because companies would benefit from working out of states with low sales tax.

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