Urgent Calls Needed—Congress Prepares to Tax Internet Sales

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:     The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on allowing taxation of internet sales. The vote will come as early as this afternoon.  The bill is S. 743, the so-called “Marketplace Fairness Bill.” While this is not a homeschool issue, this legislation will directly affect HSLDA, as well as many homeschool families who operate home businesses and sell items online. Currently, a small business only needs to collect sales taxes in states where the business has a physical presence. The proposed Senate legislation will give the states the authority to force businesses to collect sales taxes from all online customers, even if the customer lives in a state where the small business has no physical presence. HSLDA believes that this will significantly hurt many small businesses, as well as any person who buys items online. We urge you to click here to visit Taxes Without Borders to learn more about this issue, and to also send prepared emails to your two U.S. senators and your U.S. representative. Can you imagine small businesses being required to file monthly sales tax returns in all 50 states? If you do not want to use the pre-written service above, please contact your federal elected officials and ask them to reject the Marketplace Fairness Bill and any other federal legislation which taxes internet sales. You can reach your federal officials at the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121, or by typing in your ZIP code in our Legislative Toolbox. Very truly yours, J. Michael Smith, Esq. President, HSLDA Read More: Heritage Foundation: “Beware the Internet Sales Tax” Mercatus Center: “The Internet, Sales Taxes, and Tax Competition” (please note, this discusses an earlier version of the bill from 2011) Americans for Tax Reform Letter to U.S. Senate The Heritage Network: Morning Bell: “Internet Sales Tax Is a State Money Grab”
The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association • P.O. Box 3000 • Purcellville, Virginia 20134-9000 Phone: (540) 338-5600 • Fax: (540) 338-2733 • Email: info@hslda.org