HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 67
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, and Delegates Doyle,
Campbell, Reynolds, Anderson, Evans, Iaquinta,
Guthrie, Manchin, Klempa and White)
Urging the Members of the West Virginia congressional delegation to
sponsor and support the Main Street Fairness Act and President
Obama to sign it into law.
Whereas, The 1967
Bellas Hess and the 1992
Quill Supreme Court
decisions denied states the authority to require the collection of
sales and use taxes by out-of-state sellers that have no physical
presence in the taxing state; and
Whereas, The combined weight of the inability to collect sales
and use taxes on remote sales through traditional carriers and the
tax erosion due to electronic commerce threatens the future
viability of the sales tax as a stable revenue source for state and
local governments; and
Whereas, The Center for Business and Economic Research at the
University of Tennessee has estimated that states lost as much as
$15 billion in 2008 because they were not able to collect taxes on
remote sales, including sales on the Internet; and
Whereas, The same study, estimated that West Virginia lost as
much as $50 million in 2008 because of this inability to require
remote sellers to collect our state's sales and use taxes; and
Whereas, Since 1999, state legislators, governors, local
elected officials, state tax administrators and representatives of
the private sector have worked to develop a Streamlined Sales and
Use Tax Collection System for the 21st Century; and
Whereas, Between 2001 and 2004, West Virginia and thirty-nine
other states enacted legislation expressing the intent of the state
to simplify the state's sales and use tax collection systems and to
participate in multistate discussions to finalize and ratify an
interstate agreement to streamline collection of the states' sales
and use taxes; and
Whereas, On November 12, 2002, state delegates unanimously
ratified the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which
substantially simplifies state and local sales tax systems, removes
the burdens to interstate commerce that were of concern to the
Supreme Court, and protects state sovereignty; and
Whereas, The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement provides
the states with a blueprint to create a simplified and more uniform
sales and use tax collection system that when implemented, allows
justification for Congress to overturn the
Bellas Hess and
Quill
decisions; and
Whereas, West Virginia enacted legislation in 2003 to bring
this state's sales and use tax statutes into compliance with the
Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement; and
Whereas, By March 1, 2009, twenty-three states, Arkansas,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada,
Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia,
Wisconsin and Wyoming, representing over forty percent of the total
population of the United States, enacted legislation to bring their
state's sales and use tax statutes into compliance with the
Agreement; and
Whereas, The West Virginia Legislature and our colleagues in
the other states have shown the resolve to acknowledge the
complexities of the current sales and use tax collection system,
have worked with the business community to formulate a truly
simplified and streamlined collection system and have shown the
political will to enact the necessary changes to make the
streamlined collection system the law; and
Whereas, The Main Street Fairness Act will be introduced in the
111th Congress to grant those states that comply with the Agreement
the authority to require all sellers, regardless of nexus, to
collect those states' sales and use taxes; and
Whereas, Supporting the states effort to comply with the
Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and the federal legislation
granting states collection authority are such companies, unions and
organizations as: Alabama Retail Association; American Booksellers
Association; Arizona Retailers Association; Arkansas Grocers and Retail Merchants Association; Best Buy, Inc; California Retailers
Association; Colorado Retail Council; Connecticut Retail Merchants
Association; Council on State Governments (CSG); Council of State
Retail Associations (CSRA); Council on State Taxation (COST);
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.; CTIA-The Wireless
Association; Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA); First
Washington Reality, Inc.; Florida Retail Federation; General Growth
Properties, Inc.; Georgia Retail Association; Retail Merchants
Association of Hawaii; Home Depot; Idaho Retailers Association;
Illinois Retail Merchants Association; Independent Music Retailers
Association; Indiana Retail Council; International Council of
Shopping Centers (ICSC); International Union of Police; Iowa Retail
Federation; J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.; Jack in the Box, Inc.;
Jewelers of America; Kansas Retail Council; Kentucky Retail
Association; Kimco Realty Corporation; K-Mart Corporation; Land's
End; Louisiana Retailers Association; Maine Merchants Association;
Maryland Retailers Association; Retailers Association of
Massachusetts (RAM); Michigan Retailers Association; Minnesota
Retailers Association; Retail Association of Mississippi; Missouri
Retailers Association; National Association of Chain Drug Stores;
National Association of College Stores; National Association of
Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP); National Association of
Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT); National Bicycles Dealers
Association; National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL); National Education Association (NEA); National Governors
Association (NGA); National Office Products Association; National
Retail Federation (NRF); Nebraska Retail Federation; Retail
Federation of Nevada; New England Independent Booksellers
Association; New Jersey Retail Merchants Association; New Mexico
Retail Association; Retail Council of New York State; Newspaper
Association of America; North American Retail Dealers Association
(NARDA); North Carolina Retail Merchants Association; North Dakota
Retail Association; Northern California Independent Booksellers;
Ohio Council of Retail Merchants; Oklahoma Retail Council; Pacific
Northwest Booksellers Association; Pennsylvania Retailers'
Association; Performance Automotive Retailers; Performance
Warehouse Association; PETsMART, Inc.; Radio Shack Corporation;
Real Estate Roundtable; Retail Leaders Association (RILA); Rhode
Island Retail Federation; Ross Stores, Inc.; Sears Holdings
Corporation; Simon Property Group, Inc.; South Carolina Retail
Association; South Dakota Retailers Association; Staples, Inc.;
Target; Tennessee Retailers Association; The Gap, Inc.; The
Macerich Company; The TJX Companies, Inc; US Telecom; Utah Retail
Merchants Association; Vermont Retail Association; Virginia Retail
Merchants Association; Wal-Mart; Washington Retail Association;
Weingarten Realty Investors; West Acres Development LLP; Westfield;
Wisconsin Merchants Federation; and Wyoming Retail Merchants
Association; and
Whereas, Until Congress and the President enact the Main Street
Fairness Act, participation by remote sellers is only voluntary and
thus states are unlikely to close the revenue gap between what is
owed on remote transactions and what is collected; and
Whereas, Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri has termed this
federal legislation as "fiscal relief for the states that does not
cost the federal government a single cent" and ensures the
viability of the sales and use tax as a state revenue source;
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the members of our congressional delegation join as
cosponsors of the Main Street Fairness Act, by Senator Michael Enzi
of Wyoming and Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts, and
support its swift adoption by the Congress of the United States;
and, be it
Further Resolved, That President Barack Obama, upon its
passage by the Congress is urged to sign the Main Street Fairness
Act into law; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates
forward a certified copy of this resolution to the President of the
United States and the members of West Virginia's congressional
delegation.