eBay Main Street

Bruce Hahn, President of the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance (AHGA), made the following comments regarding Internet sales tax legislation introduced last week in the House of Representatives (H.R. 2701) and the Senate (S. 1452): “The Main Street Fairness Act takes us in the wrong direction. The AHGA believes that Congress should ban the collection of state and local Internet sales taxes rather than expand the collection of sales taxes on Internet purchases.” Read more.

Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet, made the following statement on behalf of his association comprised of bipartisan, pro-technology CEOs: "The Main Street Fairness Act bills will make it more complicated, expensive and onerous to conduct business on the Internet. During these difficult economic times, the last things we need are additional burdens on this growing economic sector.” Read more.

TechAmerica President and CEO Phil Bond recently announced the association’s position on Internet sales tax legislation introduced by Senator Durbin and Congressman Conyers. In his statement, Mr. Bond raised concerns about the impact of the legislation on small businesses and the economy: "This is the time for legislation that keeps our economy growing, not legislation that will increase burdens and costs for our nation\'s online businesses, which are the backbone of our recovery. Unfortunately, this legislation is a step backwards that would only hinder our economic recovery. Simply put, this is the wrong bill at the wrong time." Read more.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), made the following statement about Internet sales tax legislation introduced last week in Congress: “The legislation hands a small cartel of state tax administrators the ability to reach across state borders and export the burden of tax collection onto out-of-state businesses.” Read more.

The following statement was released by Ed Black, President and CEO of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), upon the introduction of the Senator Durbin’s and Congressman Conyer’s Internet Sales Tax bills: “Penalizing businesses for utilizing technology and innovation is not fairness, but merely a shortsighted targeting of new revenue models, while protecting existing business models at the expense of consumers and growth.” Read more.

On 11th July 2011 Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced that from 1 July 2012, the new carbon tax would apply. The Carbon Tax plan has been introduced in an attempt to cut pollution and provide an incentive to invest in renewable energy. The Government claims that a price on carbon is the most environmentally effective and economically efficient way to reduce pollution.

In response to the Internet sales tax legislation introduced by Senator Durbin (S. 1452) and Congressman Conyers (H.R. 2701), the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) released the following statement: “Forcing online retailers to take on the same costs and tax burdens as national retailers is unrealistic and will unbalance the playing field between the “brick and mortar” businesses and the smaller online retailers on the Internet. Congress has an opportunity to pursue a pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda, but the Main Street Fairness Act will set America back at a time when we can’t afford to lose momentum.” Read more.

Responding to proposed legislation that would increase tax burdens for small online retailers, Steve DelBianco, executive director of NetChoice, made the following statement: “Congress often says that small businesses are the backbone of the economic recovery, but these new collection costs will break the backs of many small online businesses. This legislation fails to define safe harbors for small businesses, virtually guaranteeing that small and medium retailers will receive little help in complying with thousands of state and local tax jurisdictions.” Read more.

Pete Sepp, the Executive Vice President of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), released the following statement opposing the Internet Sales Tax bills introduced on July 29th by Senator Durbin (D-IL) and Congressman Conyers (D-MI). "Giving governments even more sweeping powers to tax won’t restore any part of the private sector to health, especially the small businesses Americans are counting on to lead a resurgence in job and income growth."