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Monday, November 28, 2011
Ind. Gov't. - "Congress should tackle Internet sales tax issue"
Despite the full-court press in the press, perhaps related to the Simon Property Group lawsuit (see Nov. 4th ILB entry), not all are onboard, reported Eric Bradner, in the Nov. 27th Evansville Courier Press:
A recent Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute report indicated that the state might be losing $77 million per year in sales tax revenue because online retailers are not taxed, according to an article published last week in the Coruier & Press.But state Sen. Luke Kenley, the Noblesville Republican who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, said he thinks it's up to Congress, and not the Indiana General Assembly, to tackle the issue.
Kenley said the institute's report was illuminating. "It tells you how much tax disadvantage the Main Street retailers here have to face," he said.
But, he said, all that the state legislature could do is impose taxes on Internet retailers that have facilities located in Indiana – and not those that don't.
"The problem with that approach is that it will allow you to collect from somebody like Amazon, who may have some basis of nexus, but it will not allow you to level the playing field among all retailers," Kenley said.
"If you do that at the state level, you may catch Amazon but you won't catch eBay. You won't catch the catalogue houses like LL Bean. You won't catch Overstock.com."
He said some sort of resolution urging Congress to act would be the Indiana General Assembly's "only really effective action."
Kenley plans to visit Washington, D.C. this week. He will testify in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee about the issue on Wednesday.
"I'm hoping we'll gain some traction," he said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 28, 2011 10:36 AM
Posted to Indiana Government