[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 29 (Thursday, February 14, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1998-H1999]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                E-COMMERCE IS AN AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Hampshire (Mr. Pappas) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, recently I spent the day in the Mount 
Washington Valley, with local businesses, hearing from small business 
owners about the challenges that they face.
  I met with the owners of White Mountain Puzzles, a second-generation 
family business that produces 1.6 million made-in-the-U.S. puzzles a 
year and sells them all over the world.
  Later in the day, I stopped by Lupine Pet, another terrific locally 
owned business that sells durable pet collars and harnesses.
  Mr. Speaker, in keeping with our proud Live Free or Die tradition in 
the Granite State, we pay no sales taxes on goods and services.
  White Mountain Puzzles and Lupine Pet are just two of the many small 
businesses that have thrived under the rules of the road of our State's 
economy. Unfortunately, a recent Supreme Court decision is casting a 
dark shadow over these entrepreneurs. It is threatening those who have 
brick-and-mortar operations in our State and make a living from online 
sales to customers across the street and around the world.
  Mr. Speaker, in June of 2018, the Supreme Court upended decades of 
precedent. In its decision in the Wayfair case, the Court ruled that a 
jurisdiction may legally impose sales taxes on customers of sellers 
that don't have a physical presence within that jurisdiction's borders.
  Unfortunately, States across the country are now rushing to 
capitalize on this new taxing power, to the detriment of businesses in 
New Hampshire that don't impose sales taxes on consumers and aren't 
prepared to collect them.
  Ultimately, the Wayfair decision could force untold numbers of small 
retailers in my State to stop doing business altogether over the 
internet. That is a possibility that should alarm every American.
  We should be empowering entrepreneurs and innovators, the true 
driving force of the American economy, not stifling them with 
burdensome tax collection requirements.
  Here is the bottom line, Mr. Speaker: Businesses in my district 
should not be punished simply for using the internet to reach their 
customer base.
  Clearly, the time has come for Congress to act, and there are 
commonsense steps that Members of both parties should embrace, 
regardless of the tax laws in the States that we represent.

  First and foremost, we should prevent sales taxes from being imposed 
retroactively, and we should give businesses enough time to understand 
this Court decision. As a business owner myself, I can tell you how 
unreasonable it is to expect companies to somehow meet this new tax 
collection obligation at the drop of a hat, a financial burden that 
they couldn't possibly have anticipated.
  Second, given the high cost and complexity of complying with 
different sales tax laws in nearly 11,000 jurisdictions, we should 
create an exception to collection requirements for these small 
businesses.
  The great folks at White Mountain Puzzles have a special talent for 
creating incredible jigsaw puzzles, not for navigating complex unique 
sales tax rules from every State and municipality in America.
  Dave and Scott at Lupine Pet don't have a legal department or a big 
team of accountants to assist them in collecting and remitting the 
right amounts. And they say the cost of compliance, including the 
software solution for their small business, adds up to at least $25,000 
a year.
  Let's give them and millions of other small business owners a well-
deserved break. Let's give them the protections that they deserve.

                              {time}  1015

  Mr. Speaker, e-commerce is an American success story. Online sales 
have created millions of jobs and connect Americans from coast to 
coast.
  Internet retailers give rural America the opportunity to participate 
more fully in our country's economic success.
  Let's give these online sellers, including hundreds of small 
businesses in the Granite State, the support and certainty they deserve 
to continue to grow and prosper.

[[Page H1999]]

  

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