Peter S. Vogel

The current Legislation proposed by Senator Durbin is supported by and has been sponsored and cosponsored by Republicans. This is a bipartisan issue being brought to demand by the very State Representatives and Governors both Democrat and Republican that you have elected. The current effort by states requiring the passage of the Main Street Fairness Act is being lead by Tennessee Governor Republican Bill Haslam. 

This bill is far from outdated and has always been ahead of its time. Unfortunately in previous attempts the ability of technology to relieve the burden was the issue. 

There is now a simple solution: TaxCloud (http://taxcloud.net).

The statements by Ebay  stating online sales tax collection is too cumbersome confuse me. My company currently uses a PayPal checkout button that works with TaxCloud's service so my business (with less than $50k in annual sales) already calculates, collects and remits sales tax for any jurisdiction in any state.  It is simpler in most cases for my business to calculate and remit sales tax than to deal with shipping. 

My company actually benefits from utilizing new modern tax handling methods. Costly administrative burdens have been virtually removed, and no longer are Nexus affiliations a concern. I can do business in any state without fear. The liability of any audit prompted by any  participating Streamline states falls on TaxCloud not my company. So when MSFA act passes and all states become certified streamlined states the fear of burdensome audits will be lifted forever. 

If my business can manage to collect the legally due sales tax for my customers, why is it so hard for Ebay?

Technology available freely on the internet (like taxcloud) is more than capable of handling sales tax calculation and remittance. Sorry everyone, the "too burdensome" argument carried merit in 1967 and in 1992 (when SCOTUS last ruled on this matter), but in the era of modern computing where Ebay maintains a dominant position, multijurisdictional sales tax calculation and remittance is easily accomplished.

So what is the real reason Ebay and other large Ecommerce companies chooses to evade supporting your schools, hospitals, infrastructure, libraries, parks and so much more? 

Protecting shareholder value is admirable, however achieving it through the continual selfish segregation of businesses is not acceptable. Passage of the Main Street Fairness Act will encourage competition and innovation creating jobs while simultaneously restoring fairness to the marketplace.  Markets function most efficiently through the equal and unbiased application of laws. All businesses whether online, catalog or brick and mortar can easily calculate, collect and remit sales legally due in any jurisdiction in any state. Either we all vote and support to abolish sales tax entirely, or require all businesses to play by the same rules restoring equality in the marketplace. The alternatives to sales tax will be far worse and more invasive.

To make up for the evasion practices of their residents, states have been forced to replace lost sales tax revenues with higher existing taxes and fees. This year the state of CT enacted the largest tax increase in state history. They are phasing out beneficial clothing exemptions, have increases the state tax rate nearly .5% and on items over $1000 sales tax is now %7 versus the expired %6. Alcohol tax increased %20 alone. In the state of WV they were forced to enact tax on food to make up for the loss in revenue to online sales. West Virginia  would like to abolish the food tax in favor of enabling sales tax revenue. RI doubled all beach and parking fees just this year. Other states would like to eliminate death taxes in favor of being enables to collect legally due sales tax.