Amazon is leading the way for a group of internet retailers who are asking Congress to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act, known as S. 1832, which would set a revenue threshold for online retailers, in which they would have to collect and remit state sales tax in all states if they went over the predetermined limit.

According to Internet Retailer, Amazon's vice president for global public policy, Paul Misener, addressed members of the Senate and urged them to enact the law in order to better protect states and provide equal opportunities for all internet retailers. Misener used research conducted by his company to back up his arguments, and asked for the threshold to be at $150,000, instead of the current $500,000. The law in place only requires retailers to collect and remit sales tax in the states where they operate physical locations, states the news source.

"Congress should enact S. 1832 to protect the states' rights, address the states' fiscal needs and level the playing field for all sellers," said Misener.

Ecommerce Bytes reports that Misener also stated the proposed law would not create a new sales tax, but instead collect existing ones already owed. However, opponents of the law, including Steve DelBianco of NetChoice, say it will impose a new tax. DelBiano argued that the many different state and local tax codes must be harmonized in order to decrease the negative impact the legislation has on small businesses.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Friday, August 3rd, 2012 at 1:02 am .