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Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. The bill will now move to the Senate and could be voted on sometime this week.

Included within the bill are provisions for an internet tax ban, the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act (ITFFA) and the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA), which would make the periodically renewed ban permanent.

So now is the time to take action. Demand that your Senators pass this bill in its entirety including the PITFA and ITFFA.

There are still those who wish to have these provisions stripped from the bill. The reason? To push online sales tax legislation like the Remote Transaction Parity Act. Harry Reid and his allies claim that sales tax discrimination has given online retailers an advantage over brick and mortar businesses and want legislation added to the bill that would “level the playing field”. Letters from the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association voiced this concern, claiming that the inclusion of PITFA is unfair to Main Street retailers, that is, unless legislation allowing taxation without representation comes with it.

“NRF is concerned with the last-minute inclusion of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) as part of the Conference Report, without also including legislation to provide parity in sales tax treatment of internet sales with sales in brick and mortar stores, like H.R. 2775, The Remote Transactions Parity Act.”, said NRF President David French.

“Online sellers no longer need nor deserve the special treatment they receive” declared Sandra Kennedy, president of the RILA.

They do not mention, however, that the legislation they are pushing to create “parity” will result in more taxes that could cripple thousands of small online retailers. Essentially, they are opposed to a permanent Internet tax ban so that even more taxes can be put in place.

Please Contact your Senators and let them know to vote in favor of this bill in full.