Quill Bill

The Quill Bill starring the Senate and the House, not Ulma Thurman. 20 years ago North Dakota sued the Quill Corporation over sales taxes. Quill is incorporated in Delaware and is a catalog company that sells office supplies. I know I used to order from them for churches I served as I could buy paper etc. at much cheaper prices that our local business supply store. I feel guilt over that now.

The court ruled in favor of Quill based upon the Commerce Clause, which gives the federal government the ability to regulate interstate commerce and prohibits states from applying duties that interfere with interstate commerce.

That was perhaps understandable at the time but the world has changed. It is easy for us now to spend our money on things we want via the Internet rather than running downtown to buy from local stores; and we get better prices and we don’t have to pay sales tax. Good for us, but not so good for states that rely on sales taxes. And not good for local stores; many of which have gone out of business unable to compete against the Internet stores and mega stores such as Wal-Mart.

Now collecting these taxes for states if the Quill Bill goes away will be a real hassle for those Internet and catalog companies. But is it any more of a hassle than what local stores have to deal with in collecting state taxes?

I think the handwriting is on the wall for such companies, and sales taxes will somehow find there was to be collected from these Internet and catalog companies. Amazon seems to just have accepted that that will be a reality for the future.

Following are summaries of three bills before congress dealing with these issues. You might want to look them over and consider what you think is fair. Right now I’m leaning in favor of the states ability to collect these sales taxes. But then we liberals like taxes don’t we? It seems like a "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" to me.

H.R.2701 
Latest Title: Main Street Fairness Act 
Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 7/29/2011)      Cosponsors (10) 
Related Bills: S.1452 
Latest Major Action: 8/25/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law.

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SUMMARY AS OF: 
7/29/2011--Introduced.

Main Street Fairness Act - Grants the consent of Congress to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (Agreement), the multistate agreement on sales and use tax collection and administration adopted on November 12, 2002.

Authorizes each state that is a party to the Agreement (member state), after 10 states (comprising at least 20% of the total population of all states imposing a sales tax) have petitioned for and have become member states, to require all remote sellers not qualifying for the small seller exception to collect and remit sales and use taxes on remote sales owed to each such member state under the terms of the Agreement. Terminates such authority if the requirements of this Act cease to be satisfied or an amendment adopted to the Agreement after the enactment of this Act is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

Allows any person affected by the Agreement to petition the Governing Board established by the Agreement for a determination of any issue arising under the Agreement. Provides for judicial review of Governing Board determinations by the United States Court of Federal Claims and grants such Court exclusive jurisdiction over actions for judicial review.

Sets forth minimum requirements for simplifying the administration of multistate sales and use taxation under the Agreement.

Provides for judicial review of any civil action challenging the constitutionality of this Act by a panel of three judges of a U.S. District Court.

Expresses the sense of Congress that each member state under the Agreement should work with other member states to prevent double taxation where a foreign country has imposed a transaction tax on a digital good or service.

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-       S.1452 
Latest Title: Main Street Fairness Act 
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 7/29/2011)      Cosponsors (5) 
Related Bills: H.R.2701 
Latest Major Action: 7/29/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

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-       SUMMARY AS OF: 
7/29/2011--Introduced.

-       Main Street Fairness Act - Grants the consent of Congress to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (Agreement), the multistate agreement on sales and use tax collection and administration adopted on November 12, 2002.

-       Authorizes each state that is a party to the Agreement (member state), after 10 states (comprising at least 20% of the total population of all states imposing a sales tax) have petitioned for and have become member states, to require all remote sellers not qualifying for the small seller exception to collect and remit sales and use taxes on remote sales owed to each such member state under the terms of the Agreement. Terminates such authority if the requirements of this Act cease to be satisfied or an amendment adopted to the Agreement after the enactment of this Act is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

-       Allows any person affected by the Agreement to petition the Governing Board established by the Agreement for a determination of any issue arising under the Agreement. Provides for judicial review of Governing Board determinations by the United States Court of Federal Claims and grants such Court exclusive jurisdiction over actions for judicial review.

-       Sets forth minimum requirements for simplifying the administration of multistate sales and use taxation under the Agreement.

-       Provides for judicial review of any civil action challenging the constitutionality of this Act by a panel of three judges of a U.S. District Court.

-       Expresses the sense of Congress that each member state under the Agreement should work with other member states to prevent double taxation where a foreign country has imposed a transaction tax on a digital good or service.

H.R.3179
Latest Title: Marketplace Equity Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Womack, Steve [AR-3] (introduced 10/13/2011)      Cosponsors (56)
Latest Major Action: 7/24/2012 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee Hearings Held.

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SUMMARY AS OF:
10/13/2011--Introduced.

Marketplace Equity Act of 2011 - Authorizes states to require all sellers making remote sales to collect and remit sales and use taxes with respect to such sales into the state, without regard to the location of the seller, if such states implement a simplified system for administration of sales and use tax collection for remote sellers. Requires such a system to include, at a minimum: (1) an exception for remote sellers with gross annual receipts in the preceding calendar year from remote sales not exceeding $1 million in the United States or not exceeding $100,000 in the state, (2) a single sales and use tax return for use by remote sellers and a single revenue authority within the state with which remote sellers are required to file a tax return, and (3) a uniform tax base throughout the state.

Defines "remote sale" as a sale of goods or services attributed to a state with respect to which a seller does not have adequate physical presence to establish a nexus so as to allow such state to require such seller to collect and remit taxes.

S.1832 
Latest Title: Marketplace Fairness Act 
Sponsor: Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] (introduced 11/9/2011)      Cosponsors (21) 
Latest Major Action: 11/9/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

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SUMMARY AS OF: 
11/9/2011--Introduced.

Marketplace Fairness Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that states should be able to enforce their existing sales and use tax laws and to treat similar sales transactions equally, without regard to the manner in which the sale is transacted, and to collect, or decide not to collect, taxes that are owed under state law.

Authorizes each member state under the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (the multistate agreement for the administration and collection of sales and use taxes adopted on November 12, 2002) to require all sellers not qualifying for a small-seller exception (sellers with annual gross receipts in total U.S. remote sales of less than $500,000) to collect and remit sales and use taxes with respect to remote sales under provisions of the Agreement. Defines "remote sale" as a sale of goods or services attributed to a state with respect to which a seller does not have adequate physical presence to establish a nexus with the state.

Allows a state that is not a member state under the Agreement to require sellers to collect and remit sales and use taxes with respect to remote sales sourced to such state if the state adopts and implements certain minimum simplification requirements, including: (1) providing a single state agency to administer all sales and use taxes, (2) establishing a uniform sales and use tax base, (3) relieving remote sellers from liability to the state or a locality for collection of the incorrect amount of sales or use tax based on information provided by the state, and (4) providing remote sellers 30 days' notice of a tax rate change by any locality in the state.