A quartet of Republican senators used Cyber Monday to call on their Republican colleagues not to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA), which would give states and localities the ability to tax online sales.
“As people across our nation make online purchases today as part of Cyber Monday, we write to urge Republican leadership to reject any efforts to impose a misguided and destructive Internet tax collection scheme on our small businesses that rely on the Internet to tap into growing markets, expand their operations, and create jobs,” wrote Sens. Marco Rubio (R-
Fla.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in a letter to colleagues.
MFA would allow states that simplified their own sales tax laws to require online retailers to collect sales taxes at the time (point) of the sale.
There have been attempts to package MFA with an online tax bill Republicans do support, the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act, which would make permanent the current temporary moratorium on taxing Internet access.
"As Congress looks for responsible ways to foster economic growth and promote innovation, we urge you to oppose any effort to tax and regulate our nation's Internet small businesses," they said.
