Governor support of Main Street Fairness legislation

On 6/10/12, The Hill reported - "GOP governors bolster online sales tax push," by Becker and Bogardus. This article notes that some Republican governors are supporting enactment of one of the Main Street Fairness bills. These governors include New Jersey Governor Christie and Iowa Governor Branstad and perhaps 10 more. The story reports that opponents to the governors' stand are some who say they should not be focused on increasing tax revenues but cutting spending.

I continue to be surprised and dismayed that people call collecting sales tax from sellers a tax increase.  So far as government revenues, in theory, they are the same whether the customer self-assesses and pays the use tax or the vendor collects and remits the sales tax. Of course, the government is more likely to get funds if the vendors handle collection rather than rely on millions of consumers to self-assess.

The vendors need a simple state sales tax system with simple reporting AND they should get some reimbursement from the states for collecting and remitting the tax. The three versions of the main Street legislation need to be reviewed to be sure they have these reforms. Discussion is also needed on the definition of a small vendor who should be exempt.  The current bills, provide definitions of under $100,000, under $1 million and under $500,000. That's a significant variation.

For more on the bills, see my Affiliate Nexus website. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to have another hearing on the topic in July.

What do you think?