[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16568-16569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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    SENATE RESOLUTION 309--SUPPORTING THE PRESERVATION OF INTERNET 
                   ENTREPRENEURS AND SMALL BUSINESSES

  Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. Ayotte, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Begich, Mr. 
Merkley, and Mr. Heller) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Finance.

                              S. Res. 309

       Whereas the United States enjoys a strong Internet retail 
     market, which, for the past decade, has provided consumers in 
     the United States with the opportunity to purchase quality 
     products and services at competitive prices;
       Whereas the free Internet marketplace has enabled a large 
     number of small retailers and entrepreneurs across the Nation 
     to establish and strengthen businesses on various e-commerce 
     platforms and therefore protect and create jobs, increase 
     consumer choice, create competition in the retail industry, 
     and provide quality goods and services at reasonable and 
     often discounted prices;
       Whereas any Federal legislation that would upset the free 
     and fair Internet marketplace and allow State governments to 
     impose new, onerous and burdensome sales tax-collecting 
     schemes on out-of-State, Internet-enabled small businesses 
     would adversely impact hundreds of thousands of jobs, reduce 
     consumer choice, and impede the growth and development of 
     interstate commerce; and
       Whereas at a time when national unemployment numbers are 
     high and businesses across the country are struggling to keep 
     their doors open, the Federal Government should promote pro-
     growth and pro-business policies instead of enacting 
     legislation that extracts additional taxes from our Nation's 
     Internet-enabled businesses: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that Congress 
     should not enact any legislation that would grant State 
     governments the authority to impose any new burdensome or 
     unfair tax collecting requirements on small Internet 
     businesses and entrepreneurs, which would ultimately hurt the 
     economy of, and consumers in, the United States.

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am pleased today to be joined by Senators 
Ayotte, Begich, Heller, Merkley, and Shaheen to submit a simple but 
important bipartisan resolution. Our resolution simply expresses a 
sense of the Senate that the government should not sack small online 
businesses with any new tax collecting mandates that would hurt their 
competitiveness, hurt economic recovery, hurt competition, and harm 
consumers.
  The Internet is transforming the way that commerce is conducted. It 
is leveling the playing field so that the marketplace--whether for 
goods and services or for ideas--is less and less dominated by the big 
and by the powerful. The Internet is democratizing information, speech, 
and making it easier to exchange ideas as well as goods and services.
  The legal regime that the United States currently has in place, which 
facilitates e-commerce, must be protected. Our Constitution and laws 
such as the Internet Tax Freedom Act and section 230 of the 
Communications Decency Act, which I championed and protect e-commerce 
platforms from litigation and small e-commerce businesses from being 
crushed by layers and layers of state and local taxes, are the pillars 
that support America's e-commerce platforms and online entrepreneurs' 
ability to compete.
  Everyone in this body recognizes that small businesses are the 
engines of our economy. They are responsible for the bulk of innovation 
and job creation in this country--job creation that is so desperately 
needed right now. In this difficult economic period, however, many 
State and local governments are facing budgetary shortfalls. It is a 
difficult challenge that I am sure all of my colleagues recognize, but 
State budget gaps should not be filled by imposing new tax collecting 
mandates on the very types of businesses that we rely on to innovate 
and create the new jobs of tomorrow. But that is what some people are 
suggesting that Congress allow. I am opposed to that right now, 
especially given the economic challenges that we face.
  Let me give just one example of why we shouldn't upset the legal 
regime that is currently working to foster innovation, encourage e-
commerce and interstate economic activity and which supports jobs. 
Without the regime that we have in place, a small online retailer, 
whether it is someone that is selling new merchandise or used 
merchandise, would be responsible for collecting sales tax for up to 
15,000 different sales tax jurisdictions. That is just not a reasonable 
thing to expect. That is not a reasonable thing to expect particularly, 
say, from a stay-at-

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home parent who sells household goods online to supplement the family's 
income. Or a college student who buys and sells used merchandise online 
to help finance the increasingly higher costs of attending college. We 
don't want to saddle online entrepreneurs like these with new tax 
collecting responsibilities that will, in effect, put them right out of 
business.
  I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to build support 
for this resolution and to ensure that we keep the policies in place 
that enable small businesses, including online businesses, to have a 
policy environment that allows them to innovate and create good 
American jobs.

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