01.10.12

Durbin: Amazon Agreement with Indiana Paves Way for Bipartisan Bill to Level the Playing Field for Main Street Retailers

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today said that the agreement between Amazon and Republican Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will build momentum for bipartisan federal legislation – specifically the Marketplace Fairness Act that he introduced with Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) – which aims to level the playing field for Main Street retailers.  Under the agreement, announced yesterday, Amazon will voluntarily begin collecting Indiana sales tax on internet purchases on January 1, 2014, or 90 days from any federal online sales tax legislation that may pass before that time.

 

“The agreement Amazon made with Indiana, like California before it, builds momentum for a national solution to a problem that governors, mayors and local leaders have been dealing with for years. 

 

“The online sales tax loophole has caused states and local governments to lose out on billions of dollars in uncollected tax revenue each year.  In the absence of federal legislation, Republicans and Democrats in statehouses around the country have joined together to pass legislation in an attempt to level the playing field for small business and collect revenue that is already owed. 

 

“It’s time for the federal government to catch up with this growing effort by passing the Marketplace Fairness Act – a bipartisan bill that I introduced with Senators Enzi and Alexander which will close the tax loophole and allow Main Street retailers to compete fairly.”