Tuesday, June 16

No RTPA

As an eBay member, I received the letter below yesterday.  EVERYONE who wells online - in any venue - should be aware of the current proposal for taxing small business internet sales:  Remote Transactions Parity Act. 

    "Yesterday, Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT/3) introduced the Remote Transactions Parity Act, legislation that would impose burdensome remote sales tax collection and remittance requirements on Internet-enabled small businesses. If this legislation sounds a lot like the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA), that’s because the two are strikingly similar.

Like the MFA, should the Remote Transactions Parity Act be passed into law, it will:
Compel small internet-enabled businesses to collect and remit sales tax to every remote jurisdiction across the country to which they may sell, regardless of where their business is physically located. There are over 9,600 sales tax jurisdictions across the country, all of which have unique rates and rules.

Additionally, the Remote Transactions Parity Act includes a weak small seller exemption which will be far too low for most Internet-enabled small businesses. The legislation phases down the exemption to just $1 million in annual receipts and, even worse, disqualifies businesses – regardless of size – that utilize an electronic marketplace like eBay.

For years, eBay has pushed policymakers to eliminate harmful tax burdens for businesses and consumers – and we continue to need your help. If you agree that this is bad legislation, click here to tell your representative that you oppose harmful tax laws that stifle business growth and harm consumers."

Because I operated a local store for many years, I fully understand the quandary of fairness in sales tax and the effect of internet tax free goods on local business shops.  Sales tax law in our country is backwards - it is charged according to where the product is shipped to: destination based.  I believe we need to shift the entire sales tax system to a point of sale base for sales tax jurisdiction.  
 
1 Business - 1 Jurisdiction
  
Other states should not have a claim on my work in my own state.  Furthermore it is inconceivable how a small business owner will be able to operate should the RTPA ever become law!  The expense, required permits, paper work, tax codes knowledge, etc will force many business owners to cease operation.

As an online seller, sales tax collection issues affect us all - regardless of size and/or location.  I encourage you to speak up now to your congressional reps in all houses.