Bill Text: FL S0126 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2012-03-09 - Died in Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax [S0126 Detail]
Download: Florida-2012-S0126-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2012 SM 126 By Senator Lynn 7-00083-12 2012126__ 1 Senate Memorial 2 A memorial to the Congress of the United States, 3 urging Congress to enact legislation to authorize 4 states that have complied with the Streamlined Sales 5 and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state sellers 6 to collect each such state’s sales and use tax. 7 8 WHEREAS, the opinions of the United States Supreme Court in 9 the 1967 National Bellas Hess decision and the 1992 Quill 10 decision denied the several states the present authority to 11 require the collection of sales and use tax on the sale of goods 12 by out-of-state sellers that have no physical presence in the 13 taxing state, and 14 WHEREAS, those opinions of the United States Supreme Court 15 do acknowledge that Congress may confer upon the several states 16 the authority to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales 17 and use tax on these remote sales, and 18 WHEREAS, the present lack of state authority threatens the 19 continued ability of states that are dependent on such revenue 20 to rely on sales and use taxes as a stable revenue source for 21 state and local governments, and 22 WHEREAS, estimated state revenues lost as a result of the 23 lack of such authority may have been as much as $ 16.1 billion 24 in 2003, and such losses are expected to continue to climb, and 25 WHEREAS, this estimated revenue loss may have cost Florida 26 hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost tax revenue, and 27 WHEREAS, local Florida retailers who make sales at their 28 Florida stores experience a tax inequity under the de facto 29 sales tax exemption for Internet and mail order sales because 30 these traditional “bricks and mortar” businesses must apply and 31 collect sales tax while out-of-state sellers having no physical 32 presence in this state need not, and 33 WHEREAS, there exists an unfair “digital divide” under 34 which higher-income households, which are much more likely to 35 have the resources to own a computer, have Internet access and a 36 credit card to make de facto exempt, remote purchases, while 37 low-income consumers without the resources to shop online or by 38 mail, and who are consigned to shopping in local stores, bear 39 more than their fair share of state sales tax, and 40 WHEREAS, since 1999, state legislators, governors, local 41 elected officials, state tax administrators, and representatives 42 of the private sector have worked to develop a Streamlined Sales 43 and Use Tax Collection System for the 21st Century, and 44 WHEREAS, between 2001 and 2002, 35 states, including 45 Florida, enacted legislation expressing the intent of the state 46 to simplify the states’ sales and use tax collection systems and 47 to participate in multistate discussions to finalize and ratify 48 an interstate agreement to streamline the collection of state 49 sales and use taxes, and 50 WHEREAS, on November 12, 2002, these states unanimously 51 ratified the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which 52 substantially simplifies state and local sales tax systems, 53 removes the burdens to interstate commerce which were of concern 54 to the Supreme Court, and protects state sovereignty, and 55 WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement 56 provides the states with a blueprint to create a simplified 57 sales and use tax collection system that, when implemented, 58 allows justification for Congress to overturn the Bellas Hess 59 and Quill decisions under its federal Commerce Clause powers, 60 and 61 WHEREAS, by July 1, 2004, 21 states representing more than 62 35 percent of the total population of the United States had 63 enacted legislation to bring their states’ sales and use tax 64 statutes into compliance with the agreement, and 65 WHEREAS, Florida is resolved to address the complexities of 66 the current sales and use tax collection system, and 67 WHEREAS, the Main Street Fairness Act, filed as S.1452 by 68 Senator Richard Durban of Illinois and H.R.2701 by 69 Representative John Conyers, Jr., of Michigan, was introduced in 70 the 112th Congress to grant those states that comply with the 71 agreement the authority to require all sellers, regardless of 72 whether they have physical presence in the taxing state, to 73 collect those states’ sales and use taxes, and 74 WHEREAS, Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri has termed this 75 federal legislation to be “fiscal relief for the states that 76 does not cost the Federal Government a single cent” and ensures 77 the viability of the sales and use tax as a state revenue 78 source, NOW, THEREFORE, 79 80 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 81 82 That the Congress of the United States is urged to enact 83 legislation to give states that have complied with the 84 Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement the authority to require 85 out-of-state sellers to collect their sales and use tax. 86 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be 87 dispatched to the President of the United States, to the 88 President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the 89 United States House of Representatives, and to each member of 90 the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.