Marketplace Fairness Act

Sales tax legislation in both the House and Senate would level the playing field for small businesses which obviously includes farming and ranching. The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2015 in the Senate, and it’s House counterpart, the Remote Transaction Parity Act of 2015, would bring a level playing field that is critical for small business success. American Farm Bureau tax advisor Pat Wolff says the legislation would mandate tax of online sales. “Under current law, sales taxes are collected from retailers but many Internet sales are not taxed. The Marketplace Fairness Act Evens things out. It gives the authority to collect sales taxes at the same level on both sales from Main Street businesses and those that sell goods over the Internet.”

 

The online businesses would collect the sales tax. Wolff says the current system places rural businesses on the wrong side of an unfair advantage. As business shifts away from local businesses to online storefronts, local sales tax collections decrease. “Local government as a rule rely on property taxes and revenue from sales taxes to keep their doors open. As sales tax revenue goes down, there is increasing pressure to fund local services through property taxes and farmers are large owners of property. Any change away from sales tax revenue to property tax revenue hurts agriculture.