|
Title: NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES SUPPORTS AND URGES ENACTMENT OF S. 2152, THE SALES TAX SIMPLIFICATION AND FAIRNESS ACT
Committee: Communications, Technology & Interstate Commerce
Type: Action Calendar - Draft
WHEREAS, the 1967 Bellas Hess and the 1992 Quill Supreme Court decisions denied states the authority to require the collection of sales and use taxes by out-of-state sellers that have no physical presence in the taxing state; and
WHEREAS, the combined weight of the inability to collect sales and use taxes due on remote sales through traditional carriers and the tax erosion from electronic commerce threatens the future viability of the sales tax as a stable revenue source for state and local governments; and
WHEREAS, the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee has estimated that states lost as much as $16.1 billion in 2003 because they were not able to collect taxes on Internet sales and the Center estimates that by 2006 this revenue loss to states will climb to $ 6.5 billion and by 2008 it will be $33.8 billion; and
WHEREAS, since 1999, state legislators, governors, local elected officials, state tax administrators and representatives of the private sector have worked to develop a Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Collection System for the 21st Century; and
WHEREAS, between 2001 and 2002, 35 states enacted legislation expressing the intent of the state to simplify the state’s sales and use tax collection systems and to participate in multistate discussions to finalize and ratify an interstate agreement to streamline collection of the states’ sales and use taxes; and
WHEREAS, on November 12, 2002, these states unanimously ratified the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which substantially simplifies state and local sales tax systems, removes the burdens to interstate commerce that were of concern to the United States Supreme Court, and protects state sovereignty; and
WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement provides the states with a blueprint to create a simplified sales and use tax collection system that when implemented, allows justification for Congress to overturn the Bellas Hess and Quill decisions; and
WHEREAS, by July 1, 2004, 21 states representing over 35 percent of the total population of the United States enacted legislation to bring their state’s sales and use tax statutes into compliance with the Agreement; and
WHEREAS, on July 1, 2005, eleven states were certified as being fully in compliance with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and an additional five states were certified to be fully in compliance with a delayed effective date; and
WHEREAS, on October 1, 2005, as a result of Section 701 of the Agreement being met (at least 10 states representing at least 20 percent of the population in sales tax states), the Agreement became operational and effective; and
WHEREAS, the states have shown the resolve to acknowledge the complexities of the current sales and use tax collection system, have worked with the business community to formulate a truly simplified and streamlined collection system and have shown the political will to enact the necessary changes to make the streamlined collection system the law; and
WHEREAS, Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, House Majority Whip, has termed this federal legislation as “fiscal relief for the states that does not cost the federal government a single cent” and removes a federal obstacle to the viability of the sales and use tax as a state revenue source;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the National Conference of State Legislatures supports S. 2152, The Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act, by Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, to grant those states that comply with the Agreement the authority to require all sellers, regardless of nexus, not meeting the small business exemption to collect those states’ sales and use taxes; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, NCSL calls upon the members of Congress to join as co-sponsors of S. 2152, Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act and specifically requests that the members from states that have complied with the Agreement honor the decisions made by their state legislatures and governor by supporting and sponsoring this legislation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, the National Conference of State Legislatures calls upon the Congress to move swiftly to consider and approve the Sales Tax Simplification and Fairness Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, the National Conference of State Legislatures urges President George W. Bush to sign the Sales Tax Simplification and Fairness Act into law, upon its passage by the Congress; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States and to all the members of Congress.
|
