A year later, Internet sales tax bill still stalled

One year after the U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, the bill is seemingly going nowhere in the House of Representatives.

Brecken Branstrator brecken.branstrator@nationaljeweler.com

New York--One year after the U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, the bill is seemingly going nowhere in the House of Representatives.

On May 6, 2013, the Senate voted to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act, which is designed to help brick-and-mortar businesses by forcing e-tailers to collect sales tax, by a 69-27 vote.

However, the legislation remains stalled in the House of Representatives, where it faces a tougher fight in the Republican-controlled body.

The 2013 Internet sales tax legislation was introduced by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). On Wednesday, these four took to the Senate floor to urge the House to take action on the bill.

Durbin spoke of the bill’s benefits and gave examples of local businesses and businesspeople that have been suffering at the hands of Internet commerce, including Chris Koos, the mayor of Normal, Ill., who also runs a shop selling bicycles, running shoes and other athletic equipment.

Koos sees people come in, find products, try them on and say they will come back, but never do because they’re buying over the Internet instead, according to Durbin.

“When those sales are made on the Internet, instead of in Chris Koos’ shop, there is no revenue coming back to the city of Normal, Ill., or McLean County. That is Chris’s story, but it is the story of thousands, maybe millions, of businesses across America that are losing out now to Internet competition that is not collecting the sales tax that is supposed to be paid,” he said.

He added that the bill has been supported by more than a thousand businesses, but also hundreds of labor, business and government organizations.

Durbin also noted that the bill is supported by Amazon, which is “prepared to collect that sales tax and remit it to the states” rather than fight the bill in all states and cities. This news comes despite the fact that a recent study has shown that Amazon suffers in states where it has to collect sales tax.

It is unclear what is next for the House in terms of the bill. In March, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “Exploring Alternative Solutions on the Internet Sales Tax Issue” to explore proposed tax solutions. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA),

Banner will be right here …

chair of the committee and the representative who has the most control over when the bill will make it to the House floor, was not immediately available for comment or update Wednesday.

Durbin said Tuesday, “We sent it (the Marketplace Fairness Act) to the House of Representatives, and nothing has happened. Nothing. There have been some statements made over there, and I hope those statements lead to action, but it is time for them to pick up this bill and this responsibility. If they have a better approach, let’s see it. Let’s work on it. Let’s do it on a bipartisan basis. Let’s come up with an approach that works.”

The bill also has the support of Jewelers of America, which has been encouraging retailers to take action to support tax fairness.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.