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More Republicans backing online sales tax
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The online sales tax is starting to win support from an unlikely source: traditionally anti-tax Republicans.
Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte announced his support for legislation that would allow states to collect online sales taxes at a local constituent service meeting this week.
Goodlatte told the audience that he will back the bill so long as it is “as simple and seamless for [businesses] online,” the Roanoke Star reported.
As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Goodlatte expressed concern over the bill creating problems for online retailers collecting tax if states have differing requirements for collection.
Many Republican governors have come to the bill’s defense, including Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, from the home of Wal-Mart. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has even built his budget around the assumption that the state will collect nearly $1.6 billion from the online sales tax over the next five years, money that will help pay for transportation projects and public education.
Other GOP governors who have lobbied for the authority to collect sales tax from online purchases include Chris Christie of New Jersey and Rick Snyder of Michigan.
There is talk that the bill may be attached to a more comprehensive tax overhaul bill. Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin argued they were separate issues.
“This is separate,” Durbin, an online sales tax bill sponsor, said. ”Even though the ‘tax’ word is involved in it, it strictly involves state and local tax revenues,” the Hill reports.
Some supporters think this may help the online sales tax bill pass, however.
“When you’re a proponent, you’re always looking for some vehicle to carry your issue,” Vermont Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, a sponsor of the sales tax proposal, said. “So sure. Theoretically it could be. But it just doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
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