Internet tax key to no income tax
Taxing sales by Internet companies like Amazon will help Tennessee avoid having to adopt a state income tax, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said last week.
Alexander, a former Tennessee governor, said in a speech on the Senate floor that the Marketplace Fairness Act he is pushing would bring a fairer and broader sales tax system and help Tennessee avoid having to turn to a payroll tax.
Alexander said the bi-partisan bill he is sponsoring along with U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wy., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., will require Internet merchants to collect state and local sales taxes based upon where the merchandise is sold.
The measure would “close a 20-year loophole that distorts the American marketplace by picking winners and losers, by subsidizing some businesses at the expense of other businesses and subsidizing some taxpayers at the expense of other taxpayers,” he said.