In a letter to Representatives yesterday, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist shed light on the persisting threat to raise taxes on the Internet through the Remote Transactions Parity Act.
Introduced by Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah’s 3rd congressional district, the RTPA claims to improve upon the Marketplace Fairness Act, but in reality it does little to do so and creates a new version of taxation without representation.
The proposed bill uses destination based sourcing, which would force retailers to pay inconsistent sales taxes to any state from which an online order is made, even if the seller has no physical presence within that state.
Norquist notes, “Our policy should be directed towards stopping politicians from circumventing the physical presence standard that protects the taxpayer.”
Americans for Tax Reform voiced its support for several other proposals that will combat attempts at cross-border taxation. These proposals include:
The Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act (H.R. 1643)
The Business Activity Tax Simplification Act (H.R. 2584)
The Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act (H.R. 2315)
Norquist also said, “Legislation that shifts the tax burden to those outside of a state’s physical borders undermines tax competition among the states. It is healthy for states to compete for businesses and residents by implementing tax codes that provide the best government at the lowest cost.”
For Grover’s letter in full, click here