The Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act by a 69-27 vote on Monday, bringing us one step closer to state taxes on Internet commerce. The House has its own version of the bill, so there’s a pretty good chance it will reach the President’s desk, and of course you had Barack Obama at “new tax.” It will be a wonder if he can keep from trembling visibly with excitement when he signs the law. Republicans, on the other hand, might have a spot of trouble explaining their enthusiasm for a new tax to constituents.
Thus passes the concept of resistance to “taxation without representation,” which was a really big deal in the early days of American independence. Web companies will soon be audited by thousands of state and local authorities in which they have absolutely no political representation, and from whose governments they receive no direct services. The requirement for a taxation “nexus” – the ownership of property in the state levying sales taxes – was not some weird, arbitrary legalism. It was based on a principle held very dear by the Founders. Then again, so were all the other rights that have lately been treated like arbitrary legalisms, such as the right to refuse to pay for other peoples’ birth control, the right not to buy products from officially favored insurance providers, and the right to keep and bear arms.
Internet sales taxes won’t be the first injury done to the principle of “no taxation without representation,” mind you. Among other things, we’re also learning a long and painful lesson in the dangers of offering representation without taxation.
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Roll Call vote on S743 – click here. Senator Casey – “yea”; Senator Toomey – “Nay”