On Tuesday, the Senate agreed to begin debating a small business tax bill (S.2237) that some say could boost job creation. Unfortunately, Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have expressed plans to offer an Internet Sales Tax amendment. This amendment would make it much harder for entrepreneurial small business retailers to use the Internet to serve consumers across America, and raise the prices consumers would face when they shop from small businesses online.

Here are a few quotes from others who are in opposition to this amendment:

“By attaching a flawed, controversial Internet tax measure to a bill intended to provide tax relief to small businesses, lawmakers have created a poison pill for the Internet, consumers, and – worst of all – the very small businesses the bill seeks to help,”
– Steve DelBianco, NetChoice Executive Director

“Such a burden for small online businesses certainly does not belong in a bill called the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act.  It has never been and should not be the job of small businesses to collect taxes for state and local governments outside where they live and do business. This is not relief and not fairness – it is government expanding tax collection in ways that would require online businesses to suddenly learn tax laws for hundreds of state and local jurisdictions outside where they operate.”
– Ed Black, CCIA President & CEO

“It is particularly odious and contradictory to attempt hanging this proposal on a bill purporting to assist small businesses. S. 2237 is problematic for taxpayers in its own right, but is made all the worse with an Amendment that fails on so many counts. As a practical matter, the paltry “small seller exemption” contained in the language means that numerous firms will become ensnared in a web of higher tax-compliance overhead costs. Businesses that could be contributing to a more robust economic recovery will instead squander resources extricating themselves from this trap, or worse, resign themselves to oblivion.”
– Andrew Moylan, Government Bytes

“Online retailers – large and small alike – cannot afford the economic hit that would come from a new sales tax from the Congress. The Marketplace Equity Act would impose a costly mandate on small businesses by requiring them to collect and remit sales taxes in thousands of tax jurisdictions across the country where they have no physical presence. Furthermore, the bill's small business exemption is too low and unworkable.”
– Andy Halataei, Director of Government Relations, Information Technology Industry Council

Read the full statements from these organizations below:

• CCIA Opposes Online Sales Tax Collection Amendment
• NetChoice: Marketplace “Fairness” is a Poison Pill for the Internet, Consumers
• GovernmentBytes: The Internet Tax Threat That Won't Go Away
• Information Technology Industry Statement on Proposed Online Sales Tax

If you oppose this Internet Sales Tax scheme that would make it harder for small business retailers to use the Internet and raise prices on consumers, you should contact your Senators and let them know what you think of this scheme.

Find your Senators' phone numbers

eBay Inc. opposes any Internet Sales Tax proposal that raises barriers to small business retailers using the Internet to grow. The best tax policy would encourage entrepreneurial small businesses to use the Internet, create jobs and serves consumers in new and innovative ways. The current Internet Sales Tax proposal is the opposite – a tax proposal that will make it harder for small business retailers to use the Internet and grow.