Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/739734
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 / S C T 33 A s retailers, landlords and revenue-starved states await Congressional action that would require e-tailers to collect and remit state sales taxes, lev- eling the playing field for local sellers, ICSC has pledged to keep up the pressure on federal legislators. The most recent development was a proposal by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) — the Online Sales Simplification Act — that would require companies to collect sales taxes on online purchases, at the rate charged in the consumers' state but based on the taxable base in the retailers' own home states. The idea, first floated last year, has not officially re- ceived committee consideration yet. Whatever remedy finally advances, "online retailers should compete on a level playing field with brick-and-mortar retail- ers and not enjoy an unfair advantage when it comes to sales taxes," said Tom McGee, ICSC's president and CEO. "We strongly urge members of both parties to recognize the impor- tance of this issue and to work together to resolve it." Three federal bills have been introduced in recent years to address the issue of remote retailers and collec- tion of state sales taxes — one in the Senate and two in the House. The Marketplace Fairness Act, sponsored by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) would allow those states that have signed up to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) to require out-of-state retailers to collect and remit sales taxes. It would also allow for non-SSUTA states to collect after making significant sim- plifications to their sales-and-use-tax process. The Senate bill passed with a comfortable bipartisan 69-27 major- ity in 2013 but was not taken up by the House. Similar authority would have been granted to the states, paired with additional protections for remote sellers under a bill