Durbin Meets with Illinois State Legislators to Discuss Bipartisan Marketplace Fairness Act
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) met with Illinois State Senators Pamela Althoff (R-Crystal Lake) and Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights) to discuss the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would level the playing field for small businesses by allowing local brick-and-mortar retailers to compete more effectively against out-of-state internet sellers. The legislation was introduced by Senators Durbin, Mike Enzi (R-WY), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and a bipartisan group of 7 other Senators late last year. A photo of today’s meeting is available here.
Althoff and Hutchison are in Washington, DC with other members of the National Council of State Legislators (NCSL) to raise support for the Marketplace Fairness Act. Althoff co-chairs the NCSL Task Force on State and Local Taxation and Hutchison co-chairs the NCSL Budgets and Revenue Committee. Durbin spoke at the NCSL Annual Conference earlier this year in Chicago, Illinois regarding the legislation to help small businesses, save good-paying local jobs, and allow states and local governments to collect revenue already owed.
“As families across the country begin their holiday shopping, the fact is that bricks-and-mortar retailers are at a competitive disadvantage because they are required to collect sales and use taxes while internet sellers do not,” Durbin said. “The Marketplace Fairness Act would give small businesses a fair shake by allowing states to treat brick and mortar retailers the same as remote retailers. State Senators Pamela Althoff and Toi Hutchinson, and their colleagues from the National Council of State Legislators, know how important it is to states like Illinois the option to collect sales tax already owed under current law from out-of-state businesses. I will continue to look for opportunities to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act and ensure a level playing field for all retailers.”
The Marketplace Fairness Act would give states the option to collect sales tax already owed under current law from out-of-state businesses, rather than rely on consumers to pay those taxes to the states—the method of tax collection to which they are now restricted. In order to protect the growth of small businesses, the bill prohibits states from requiring remote sellers with less than $500,000 in annual remote nationwide sales to collect state and local sales and use taxes.
The Marketplace Fairness Act has 21 bipartisan cosponsors. Twenty-three Governors – 15 Republican and 8 Democratic – support leveling the playing field for small businesses and over 240 government, business and labor organizations support the bill, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Amazon.com, the Consumer Electronics Association and the International Council of Shopping Centers.