Congress, retailers and the tech community are buzzing about a so-called “Internet tax” that will pass the Senate any day now. The proposed law has made for strange allies (Amazon and conservative Republicans are both supporters) and confused consumers. Here’s a plain English explanation of the tax, the debate and how it could all turn out.
Is this a new tax on the internet?
No, the proposed Marketplace Fairness Act simply provides a practical way for states to collect sales tax for goods sold on the internet. Right now, if you live in Ohio and buy something online from a New York merchant, you ‘re the one who is supposed to tell Ohio and pay the tax . But few people actually does this — so the law makes the out-of-state merchant responsible instead for collecting the tax.
The law would only apply to businesses that sell more than $1 million a year (so don’t worry about those bobble-heads you sold on eBay). It also requires states to provide free software to merchants to help them collect tax from more than 9000 state, county and local taxing authorities.
How popular is the law?
Very popular, so far. The Senate voted 70-24 to pass an early version on Tuesday — a final version is expected to pass by the same margin this week.
Sounds like more taxes. Why is it so popular?
State governments say they are losing billions on taxes they would collected if people had gone to the store instead of shopping on the internet. Same for county and city governments who argue that “show-rooming” — where people go to stores just to look before buying online — is killing local communities.
Brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart say online retailers have an unfair advantage because they can charge lower prices since they don’t collect tax. Amazon an online retailer, is surprisingly on Wal-Mart’s side (likely because Amazon already has to collect tax if it has a physical presence in a state — and its warehouse are in more and more states.)
The White House, anxious for a win after blowing the gun control bill, is all in favor too.
Who’s opposed to it?
Senators from the few places that don’t have a sales tax (Oregon, Montana, Delaware and New Hampshire) say the law will force businesses in their states to set up an expensive tax-collection system for the benefit of other states. Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden is leading the opposition.
Anti-tax crusaders like Grover Norquist and a few Tea Party Republicans oppose on the grounds the law will lead to bigger government. The Wall Street Journal editorial board doesn’t like it either.
eBay says the law will hurt millions of people who have home-based businesses, and wants the exemption to be raised to $10 million a year. Tech lobbyists like TechAmerica worry about the effect on e-commerce, although giants like Google, Apple and Facebook have stayed largely silent.
The financial industry is quietly opposing the bill too, worried that Wall Street haters in other states will start taxing securities transactions.
How will this end?
The bill appears to be a sure thing in the Senate but still faces a fight in the House. For now, the law’s supporters appear to have the upper hand but this could change as opponents build a coalition to shift momentum.
Ultimately, it will be about which narrative prevails: that the bill is a commonsense measure to create a level retail field and allow states to collect the money they’re owed (as supporters say); or, that it’s a burdensome new tax that will harm small businesses and ecommerce (as opponents say).
To read more, see the New York Times’ overview and this Bloomberg editorial.
(Image by Keith Bell via Shutterstock)
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