The State and Local Tax Buzz

Just when we it seemed like the Main Street Fairness legislation introduced this past summer was dying a slow death, a second federal remote seller bill was introduced. That's right, on October 12, 2011, H.R. 3179, entitled the “Marketplace Equity Act of 2011”, was introduced by U.S. Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, and Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican. Like the Main Street Fairness legislation, S. 1452 and H.R. 2701, introduced on July 29, 2011 by Senator Dick Durbin and Representative John Conyers, respectively, the ultimate goal of the Marketplace Equity Act is to grant States the authority to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax on sales to in-state customers.  But despite this overall common goal, the Marketplace Equity and Mainstreet Fairness Acts are different.

H.R. 3179, The Marketplace Equity Act
Before delving into how the competing federal on-line sales tax bills compare, let’s look at the Marketplace Equity Act (“the Act”) more clos…

Originally published October 4, 2011*, State Legislative Developments

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,....., in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
And like this quote, from Charles Dicken’s “A Tale of Two Cities”, I bring you today “A Tale of Two State 'Amazon Law' Updates”.  One for whom the battle was too great, who realized it had expected too much, too quickly; and another just embarking on the dream of internet sales tax collections. Two states. Within a day of each other, one repeals its “Amazon Law”, while another introduces “Amazon” legislation.
California’s “Amazo…