Title: Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement

Summary: Urges U.S. Congress to support passage of legislation similar to Marketplace Fairness Act.

Full Text:
WHEREAS, the need for modernization is evidenced by the exponential growth of total e-commerce sales by an estimated 12 percent from $1 trillion in 1999 to $4 trillion in 2012, and WHEREAS, between 2001 and 2002, states, including Florida, enacted legislation expressing the intent of the state to simplify its sales and use tax collection system and to participate in multistate discussions to finalize and ratify an interstate agreement to streamline the collection of state sales and use taxes, and WHEREAS, on November 12, 2002, these states unanimously ratified the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which substantially simplifies state and local sales tax systems, removes the burdens to interstate commerce, a nd protects state sovereignty, and WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement provides the states with a blueprint to create a simplified WHEREAS, computing capabilities have advanced significantly in recent years, thereby relieving some state merchants of the otherwise overwhelming burden of assessing the taxes owed to individual states and local jurisdictions, and WHEREAS, the nationwide total revenue loss to the states, which is expected to rise while states lack the authority to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales and use taxes on remote sales, is estimated to have been as much as $56.3 billion from 2007 to 2012, and WHEREAS, this estimated revenue loss may have cost Florida several billion sof dollars per year in lost tax revenue, with some estimates indicating losses to the state of as much as $3.9 billion from 2007 to 2012, and WHEREAS, Florida could realize tax deductions in property tax and other tax schemes by fully implementing the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, and WHEREAS, local Florida retailers who make sales at their Florida stores experience a tax inequity under the de facto sales tax exemption for Internet and mail order sales because these traditional "brick and mor tar" businesses on our "main streets" must apply and collect sales tax, while out-of-state sellers having no physical presence in this state do not, and WHEREAS, there exists an unfair "digital divide" under which higher-income households are much more li kely to have the resources to own a computer, have Internet access, and have a WHEREAS, thousands of businesses are forced to do business at a competitive disadvantage because they have to collect taxes that online sellers do not, which in some states can mean a to percent price advantage, and WHEREAS, consumers are required under state laws to pay sales and use taxes on the goods they purchase, but online sellers simply are not required to collect the tax in the same way that local businesses do, which more often than not puts local businesses at a disadvantage and can lead to consumers being audited and charged with penalties for failing to pay sales and use taxes, and WHEREAS, all too often states are unable to enforce this tax collection requirement or unw illing to enforce such requirement due to policy considerations concerning the privacy of individuals, and WHEREAS, small-volume sellers should be protected from any new collection requirements and accorded an exemption if they sell less than $500,000 in online sales annually, and WHEREAS, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives should pass legislation allowing states to enforce their existing sales and use tax laws and to treat similar sales transactions equally, without regard to the manner WHEREAS, Internet-based commerce continues to grow, and states will be unable to collect billions in revenue unl ess the United States Congress acts, NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: That the United States Congress is urged to pass legislation similar to the Marketplace Fairness Act that allows each state to enforce its existing sales and use tax laws, treating similar sales transactions equally without regard to the manner in which the sales are transacted; permits each state to collect or forfeit the collection of taxes already owed under state law; and authorizes each state that ratifies the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state sellers to collect and remit its sales and use tax. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be dispatched to the President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.