Sales Tax Initiative

Amazon will begin collecting and remitting sales tax in Illinois beginning February 1 as part of a deal the online retailer struck with state officials in October 2014.

U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has circulated draft sales tax fairness legislation that would ask most states to radically change their sales tax systems, according to media reports.

On Thursday, January 15, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed the recently passed Main Street Fairness legislation into law, thereby leveling the playing field for the state’s Main Street retailers.

In response to news that Amazon had fired its Vermont affiliates because of a 2011 e-fairness law that could potentially kick in this year, ABA and Advocates for Independent Business have launched an e-mail campaign asking Vermont indie retailers to contact Gov. Peter Shumlin in support of the law.

In late December, sales tax fairness proponents in Michigan won a big victory when the state legislature voted to pass e-fairness legislation.

Late last week, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner dashed any hopes Main Street retailers had of getting a federal e-fairness solution passed during the lame-duck Congressional session.

Seventeen small business owners representing 21 stores in Ohio have sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner to express their strong disappointment regarding his lack of support for sales tax fairness.

On December 8, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a challenge brought by the Direct Marketing Association regarding a 2010 Colorado law that requires out-of-state retailers to either collect and remit sales tax for purchases made by Colorado residents or to inform their Colorado customers that they owe use tax on the purchases they have made.

With just a few weeks left in the congressional session, the Advocates for Independent Business is urging indie businesses to participate in a grassroots social media campaign in support of e-fairness.

Advocates for Independent Business has re-launched #efairnessnow, a grassroots social media campaign in support of e-fairness, in the hope that the campaign will go viral and catch the attention of members of Congress.

The Marketplace Fairness Coalition has sent a letter signed by more than 320 organizations to Speaker of the House John Boehner that urges him to tackle e-fairness in this legislative session.

With the results of the midterm elections now in, the long-term status of federal sales tax fairness legislation has become muddled; however, the lame-duck session of Congress still offers the best opportunity to pass federal sales tax fairness legislation, according to the Main Street Fairness Coalition.

While the status of federal sales tax legislation may be up in the air at present, an E-Fairness Map released this week by ABA makes one thing abundantly clear: The number of states tackling e-fairness on their own continues to grow.

Illinois state officials have announced that Amazon will be building a distribution center in the state and it’s expected that the online retailer will be receiving tax credits from the state. Under a new law that went into effect in August, Amazon is obligated to collect and remit sales tax to the state beginning January 1, 2015.

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