Sen. Mike Enzi, R-WY, urged attendees to the National Conference of State Legislatures on this week to contact their senators in support of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act.
Enzi said he and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, have been the lead co-sponsors on this legislation in the Senate for years and have asked the Finance Committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, to hold a hearing on the bill, S. 1736, by the end of March.
The bill would authorize states that have signed the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and have passed legislation simplifying their tax system to require all sellers to collect and remit sales tax.
Twenty states have passed the implementing legislation required under the agreement, and nine more are working on it, Enzi said.
He said this bill is not about new taxes.
“Simply put, if Congress continues to allow remote sales taxes to go uncollected and electronic commerce continues to grow as predicted, other taxes — such as income or property taxes — will have to be increased to offset the lost revenue,” he said. “You, as state legislators, will have to make those tough decisions if we don't act.”
