Shut Down MITFA and Demand ITFA Before November 1st, 2014 The Heartland Institute, by Alexander Anton September 3, 2014 Most of Congress agrees that the Internet access tax ban should continue, at least for now; even the House passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) with merely a voice vote. It seems like it would be almost unanimous in the Senate, too, but one hot topic attached to access taxes is causing controversy: the Internet sales tax. The four-page ITFA bill also contains a provision that protects against discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce. While brick-and-mortar stores have a definitive sales tax they pay based on where they’re located, e-retailers do not. Without sales tax protection, e-retailers could have to pay up to 9,600 different state and local taxing bodies, an administrative expense that the average small business owner could not handle (24 million Americans, where 29% make less than $10,000/year in sales). On top of that, if a taxing body charges the wrong tax or makes a mistake and an e-retailer needs to take legal action, they would incur further costs for lawyers and litigation that would diminish the incentive to sell anything online in the first place. A group of senators is planning to hold Internet access taxes hostage (the ban expires November 1st, 2014) in an attempt to force the Internet sales tax question. They created their own version of an Internet tax freedom act, but with many perversions that cater to the retail industry giants who could easily soak up the administrative costs and send their armies of lawyers to court for them. This new fourteen-page bill, the Marketplace and Internet Tax Freedom Act (MITFA), only extends the Internet access tax ban by 10 years instead of permanently, and it would open up the 9,600 different state and local tax collecting agencies—many of whom are in debt—to enforcing burdensome regulation and taxation on e-retailers. Please read more: blog.heartland.org/2014/09/shut-down-mitfa-and-demand-itfa-before-november-1st-2014/?utm_content=buffer1abc0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 19:40:10 +0000
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