Advocacy

Ten ABA members offer testimonials calling for sales tax fairness in a new video now available on YouTube. And two Virginia booksellers appear in a new sales tax fairness commercial released by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Leading authors and illustrators of children’s books will show off their hidden talents in a variety show to be held during the Children’s Book Art Auction and Reception at BookExpo America on Wednesday evening, May 28.

ABA will be among the co-sponsors of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week, this May 12 – 16.

A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business shows that remote retailers do indeed enjoy a competitive advantage by not collecting sales tax at the point of sales.

The 20th Annual Children’s Book Art Auction and Reception, on May 28 at BEA, will feature a special section of original artwork created to honor Dr. Seuss. Artists can submit works honoring Dr. Seuss until May 15.

Amazon.com will be required to collect and remit sales tax in Florida beginning May 1, according to media reports this week. The requirement to collect was part of a real estate deal to build  a 1.1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Hillsborough County.

Advocates for Independent Business has produced the Backgrounder on the Small Business Credit Crunch, which outlines broad policy solutions, with a focus on strengthening and expanding community banks, increasing credit union business lending, and reorienting the SBA’s loan guarantee programs.

On April 14, the Colorado House of Representatives passed the Marketplace Fairness & Small Business Protection Act, a bill that would require remote retailers with nexus in the state to collect and remit sales tax on purchases made by Colorado residents.

The American Independent Business Alliance will host the biennial Go Local Grow Local conference in Minneapolis May 8 – 11.

In a victory for the banking industry, a federal appeals court has overturned a July 2013 ruling by a U.S. district court that ordered the Federal Reserve to rewrite rules to lower the cap on debit card swipe fees.

The Annual Children’s Book Art Auction and Reception to benefit ABFFE will be hosted this year by bestselling author and illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka. The auction will be held on Wednesday evening, May 28, at BEA.

ABFFE and more than 30 civil liberties and privacy groups have sent a letter urging Congress and the president to adopt reforms limiting intelligence agencies to searching only records that pertain to people who are suspected of planning or committing illegal acts.

ABA recently met with the staff of six U.S. representatives on the House Committee on the Judiciary to urge them to reach a consensus in support of sales tax fairness legislation.

ABFFE has joined civil liberties and open government groups in urging President Obama to speed the release of a Congressional report on the CIA program that detained suspected terrorists in secret prisons and subjected them to coercive interrogation techniques following the 9/11 attacks.

On  March 12, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary held a full committee hearing on the issue of sales tax fairness. The hearing focused on various ideas for collecting sales tax on remote sales not covered in the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013.