Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to allow states to collect internet sales taxes:
“The Supreme Court has given the green light for states to establish an underground, nationwide, privatized tax-collecting bureaucracy,” Wyden said. “With this ruling sellers from other countries won’t have to collect tax, which will give them a big leg up over American producers and sellers.
“Oregonians selling their goods online will now be extorted by a litany of software providers and their allies in state governments. They’ll need to pay multinational corporations a pretty penny to comply with an endless web of new tax jurisdictions. Then small business will be forced to carry the financial burden of other states’ taxes. That’s because local politicians desperate to find money to improve schools, roads and law enforcement will look for outside their borders to find it. I’ll do everything I can as the top Democrat on the Finance Committee to protect Oregonians – and small business everywhere – from being harmed by this catastrophic decision.”
Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that state and local governments can already collect 75 to 80 percent of taxes that would be owed if all sellers were required to collect tax on all remote sales at current rates.
