The proposed Sales Tax Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act (SSTA), now before a House subcommittee, would “seriously jeopardize the continued growth of electronic commerce in the U.S., and would impede the access of small and medium-sized companies to a nationwide market,” George Isaacson, tax counsel for the Direct Marketing Association, testified Thursday.
The measure (H.R. 3396), sponsored by Rep. William Delahunt (D-MA), currently before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, would also “result in an unprecedented expansion of state taxing authority,” said Isaacson.
The act seeks to get Congress to adopt the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, a 2002 pact among 44 states, the District of Columbia and local governments and businesses that attempts to develop methods to simplify sales and use tax collection by retailers and states (Direct Newsline, Dec. 21, 2005).
Isaacson added the current bill:
* Fails to reduce the 7,600 varying tax rates across the U.S.
* Fails to reduce the burden of tax collection, remittance of tax, and audits placed on interstate marketers.
* Fails to guarantee fundamental fairness with respect to vendor compensation for tax collection.
