Rep. Speier takes a different tack from Senate legislation.
by Brian Leubitz
Sen. Durbin has already introduced the “Main Street Fairness Act” in the Senate to create something of a national sales tax, but Rep. Jackie Speier is looking for another way. She’s looking to simply authorize states to collect the taxes.
n July, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced a Main Street Fairness Act with support from trade organizations such as the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association; both groups voiced support for the Womack-Speier bill, as well.
But Speier said her bill is “dramatically different” from Durbin’s in that his creates a national sales tax covering all states, while hers authorizes states to collect their own.
Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global public policy, issued a statement agreeing that the sales tax issue must be resolved in Congress, and that a federal law will let states address their budget shortfalls.(BayArea News)
In theory, Amazon’s deal with the state calls for them to support some sort of legislation over the next year, or collect sales taxes for the state in 2013. Amazon has said previously that they generally approve of Durbin’s framework, but as Michelle Bachmann would say, the devil is in the details.
The solution is to abolish sales taxes. In their place, we should increase income taxes, financial transaction taxes, oil extraction taxes, carbon taxes, estate taxes, and property taxes.
We need to repeal old Propositon 13, and with it the unfair effects it has had on taxation in California. The arguments in favor of my proposal in that regard are not new, they are just not currently fashionable, though public opinion is changing.