BTW; true to the deceitfullness of the Obama Democrats, the internet tax bill is called:
"The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA"...
Originally Posted by Whirlaway
Huh??
CISPA is not the "internet tax bill." It's a proposed law that's putatively intended to address issues relating to cyber security, and has nothing to do with taxes. You're conflating (or are confused by) two completely unrelated issues.
The "internet tax bill" is called the Marketplace Fairness Act. Perhaps that's an unfortunate name, given congress's record. It's easy to see why many people might take a look at the word "fairness" in the bill's title and reflexively assume that it has nothing to do with "fairness."
But actually, it does.
Either you are OK with state sales taxes, or you are not. If you are, then why would you argue that one class of merchants (online retailers) should enjoy a large competitive advantage over another, simply by dint of the fact that its members do not have to collect state sales tax?
Some opponents of the bill express concerns that reporting requirements would place an onerous burden on small businesses and seriously impact their prospects for success. That's another bogus argument. For one thing, many small online merchants sell thru Amazon, which will quite happily handle tax collection matters for them, as well as give them maximum exposure in the marketplace. Many others utilize eBay, which will certainly respond to the challenge in similar ways. Sellers who choose to go it alone will easily be able to implement newly developed tax-reporting software.
This should not be considered a partisan "conservative vs. liberal" issue.
It's simply a matter of equity.