Sen. Tester blasts bill that would place sales taxes on online purchases

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced a resolution opposing a bill that would require businesses selling products or services over the internet to collect sales tax.

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The bill he is opposing is called the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would require small businesses and retailers selling online to collect sales taxes even if the seller is located in a state without a sales tax. His home state of Montana would be one of them – as it has voted against implementing a sales tax twice in both 1971 and 1993.

“Passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act would harm our economy and place burdensome and bureaucratic policies on small businesses and entrepreneurs,” Tester’s resolution reads. “It should not be the role of small businesses and entrepreneurs to help shore up the finances of states and localities through an online sales tax.”

Further, Tester is demanding that this piece of legislation include adequate safeguards for states with no sales tax. He is also asking Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to reconsider his support for the act.

“Small businesses from every corner of Montana all agree that this federal sales tax legislation would stifle economic growth, add burdensome regulations, and provide no benefit to businesses or the State of Montana’s bottom line,” Tester wrote in a recent letter to Mnuchin. “I am strongly opposed to this sales tax bill and I respectfully urge the Administration to reconsider its position on this bill that would add unfunded costly regulations to small businesses in Montana and would effectively create a national online sales tax.”