Main Street Fairness Act (H.R. 5660)
Frequently Asked Questions

1. Most retail booksellers also sell on the Internet to be viable, and most of us are not large corporations. How does this help us?

2. You’re not hurting Amazon.com, you’re hurting small businesses and the “little” guys. There are a lot of Christian books sold on that site and other book sites.

3. How do you imagine that small sellers are going to be able to afford the accounting necessary to send each state their due?

4. Doesn’t this add more taxation?

 

1. Most retail booksellers also sell on the Internet to be viable, and most of us are not large corporations. How does this help us?

Because of nexus laws, all retailers who sell via the Internet in the state they are located must pay local sales taxes, as are Internet-only retailers who have agents or facilities in a state. However, brick-and-mortar stores must by law pay their fair share of taxes that fund local community services, but some Internet-only retailers pay no sales or use taxes. This puts retailers who follow local laws at an unfair competitive disadvantage to Internet-only retailers. Fair taxation would help level the playing field for independent retailers.

2. You’re not hurting Amazon.com, you’re hurting small businesses and the “little” guys. There are a lot of Christian books sold on that site and other book sites.

Amazon.com and other Internet-only and big-box websites sell a lot of books at predatory prices, and some of that advantage is because the companies don’t collect and remit sales or use taxes. This can be anywhere from a 5% to 10% unfair advantage. We also understand the needs of small businesses and the “little” guys. The legislation CBA is supporting includes what are called “small seller exceptions,” essentially an exemption of sales and use-tax requirements for remote sales – that is sales that are not to purchasers in the seller’s state and subject to out-of-state taxation. A retailer’s remote sales must be more than $500,000 a year before having to pay sales and use taxes to other states.

3. How do you imagine that small sellers are going to be able to afford the accounting necessary to send each state their due?

We are not advocating additional taxation, rather, fair taxation. The whole point of the Streamline Sales and Use Tax Agreement is to overcome this obstacle of complex and expensive reporting and remitting of funds. The agreement, originally established in 1999, provides an efficient and simple way for “remote sellers” who sell more than $500,000 annually in this way to collect and remit sales tax without excessive paperwork or other requirements. Internet retailers are supposed to collect and remit appropriate taxes now for sales made within the state in which they're located, have facilities, or agents.

4. Doesn’t this add more taxation?

No, it means fair and equal taxation so local independent retailers are not at a disadvantage in serving customers. It also means Internet-only retailers who exploit local marketplaces would also contribute to local economies by helping fund public services, such as police, fire, and recreation. When was the last time Amazon.com sponsored a local youth sports team?

CBA is trying to enable those retailers who have been called to this type of ministry to have a fair chance at fulfilling their mission of broadly providing Christian resources and materials to the church and others. The goal is not to hurt Christian retailers but to help them compete on a level playing field. While Amazon provides a very technically advanced service, it also doesn’t pay its fair share in most cases where it should, and it doesn’t distinguish between the types of products it sells. Amazon would have no position one way or another on product type, whether it’s about pedophilia, bestiality, or the blessings of Christ. However, discriminatory taxation gives them pricing and censorship power they wouldn’t have otherwise.

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