URGENT: US Senate to Vote on the “Marketplace Fairness Act”

I found out earlier today that the US Senate will be voting on the “Marketplace Fairness Act” tomorrow (March 20).

I have previously written about this horrible proposal (here & here), and have recently become familiar with the We R Here Coalition.

You may sign the We R Here petition or send a copy of a form letter to your local newspaper. They also have a letter that can be forwarded to members of the US Senate.

— begin letter
Corporate America has waged war on the small business community once again. The target this time is online retailers. The Marketplace Fairness Act is being pushed through Congress to create “fairness” in the business world. Although focused on the internet sales tax this is not an online vs. offline retailer’s battle. This is a clear case of large businesses vs. small businesses. Large retailers like Walmart and Amazon are claiming to represent Main Street and using the guise of “a fair market” to push smaller businesses like mine out of the market so that they have less competition.
Over the years, Amazon has cut deals with state governments to avoid paying sales tax where it has warehouses. Big retailers have accounting departments in place that can handle the burden of complying with thousands of tax codes across the country. Small businesses and one person operations cannot realistically be expected to cope with this legislation without incurring significant expenses to do so.
I urge our Senators to stand with their small business community and vote against the Marketplace Fairness Act.
— end letter