Amazon, eBay split over online sales tax bill

Taxes Saturday, July 30th, 2011

By MICHELLE QUINN, Politico

Amazon supports a bill that would give states the ability to force online retailers to collect sales tax, but eBay does not.

Those were some of the reactions to the Main Street Fairness Act, which Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced on Friday.

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Congress has considered the bill before, but Durbin is hoping there is momentum now for his effort. In the past year, numerous states have passed online sales tax laws and have been battling with online retailers, in particular Amazon, over the issue of requiring those retailers to collect sales taxes.

Amazon has fought some state laws by challenging them in court and by severing business partnerships in the state. In California, Amazon is backing a referendum to overturn the law.

The Durbin bill includes something it calls a “small seller” exemption. Determining who qualifies as a “small seller” will be the job of the Governing Board of the Streamline Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which promotes standardizing the myriad of state tax policies.

The senator has support for the bill from other Democrats, including South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson, who will co-sponsor the bill. In the House, Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) are planning to introduce an identical bill.

But missing among the bill’s initial supporters is Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), who has backed the proposal in the past.

“While Sen. Enzi continues to work with Sen. Durbin on this issue, he is not ready to move forward as an original co-sponsor at this time,” a spokesman for Enzi said. “Sen. Enzi is working with his Republican colleagues to build greater support for the legislative concept.”

To read more, visit:  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60285.html

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