Sales Tax Initiative

Late last week, Simon Property Group, the largest mall owner in the country, filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana in an effort to get the state to require Amazon.com to collect and remit sales tax on orders by Indiana residents.

ABA welcomed this week’s introduction in the Senate of the Marketplace Fairness Act, legislation that would provide states with authorization to require remote sellers to collect and remit state sales tax, as an important step toward a national sales tax fairness solution.

ABA announced this week that it is inviting independent association executives and independent business advocacy groups and their members to Washington, D.C., to advocate on behalf of a national sales tax fairness solution.

This week, a coalition of small businesses joined Rep. Jackie Speier and Rep. Steve Womack in Washington, D.C., for the introduction of the Marketplace Equity Act.

Tennessee has become the latest state to negotiate an agreement with Amazon.com that would postpone the date by which the online retailer must collect state sales tax.

According to a study released this week, New Jersey lost $171 million in non-collected sales and use tax on business-to-consumer Internet purchases of goods and services from out-of-state vendors in 2009.

On Friday, September 23, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an amended sales tax fairness bill that was the result of a last-minute deal California lawmakers made with Amazon.com.

On Tuesday, Michigan state representatives Eileen Kowall (R) and Jim Ananich (D) joined with bricks-and-mortar retailers, including Matt Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers, at a press event to introduce the Michigan Main Street Fairness Act.

A new study released this week estimates that over the next five years, the failure of remote, online retailers to collect sales tax will cost the state of Tennessee more than 10,000 jobs and about $3 billion in revenue.

ABA is urging members to contact their senators and governor in support of the Main Street Fairness Act, which was introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin in late July. A template letter that can be adapted and sent is available.

Late Friday, September 9, California legislators voted overwhelmingly to approve an amended sales tax fairness bill that would provide Amazon.com with a one-year sales tax exemption while increasing the minimum small business exemption to $1 million from $500,000 in annual sales.

At this month’s SIBA trade show, attendees will have an opportunity to hear an important update on the e-fairness fight from a national and regional perspective, to learn what’s unfolding in key battleground states (including South Carolina, Virginia, and Florida), and to ask questions about what can be a complex and confusing issue.

This week, Florida’s St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune published op-eds by Inkwood Books co-owner Carla Jimenez, who calls on state lawmakers to level the playing field by passing a sales tax fairness law similar to the ones passed in other states, including California, Illinois, and New York.

Earlier this month, state Sen. Randy McNally and Rep. Charles Sargent sought the Tennessee Attorney General’s legal opinion as to whether companies that maintain warehouse or distribution facilities in the state are already required to collect and remit sales tax under current sales tax laws.

This week, ABA CEO Oren Teicher wrote to Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine to urge them to support the Main Street Fairness Act. In a recent news article, Sen. Snowe said she opposed the federal sales tax fairness legislation and Sen. Collins expressed doubts.