Acts of Congress (or things monkeys do that you should know about)

by Tyler Weddell |

---

The Marketplace Fairness Act, set for a Senate vote on Monday, May 6th 2013, is a real shady bugger, threatening to end competition for newer, less corporate markets and allow Big Business to continue to push people around. Take a minute to do a Google search and acquaint yourself with the topic. I’ll wait.

See, that felt good, didn’t it? What you just did was take part in the democratic process. You’re familiarizing yourself with a topic in preparation for having an opinion and expressing it. Knowing becomes much more than half the battle. If you couldn’t find it, here are some links:

 

The Bill’s text:

http://www.marketplacefairness.org/bill-text/

An editorial:

http://multichannelmerchant.com/marketing/mixed-reviews-on-marketplace-fairness-act-30042013/

Your senators’ email addresses:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

As a consumer, I usually turn to a store in my community for the goods I want – Groceries, electronics, gasoline. These are things I’ve become accustomed to in my lifestyle and really can’t do without. If I can’t find it in my local market, I go online. If I happen to purchase something from another state, that state can’t legally tax me because I’m not a resident. Because I live in California, California taxes me. If the consumer fails to charge me tax, I pay it at the end of the year during tax season. Usually, I come away with a return, which still benefits me.

This Bill seeks to change that: It will allow purchases made online from another state to be taxed by that state – In addition to allowing your home state to tax it, too. Now you’re paying additional taxes. Let me clarify that again:

THIS BILL CAN BE USED TO TAX YOU TWICE.

Was that clear enough? If nothing else on this list triggers your attention, let that be the one. I don’t want to be taxed twice, especially if that tax is going to a state that employs statewide bans against things I support: Marriage Equality and a supportive minimum wage being two I really fight for.

Other things this bill will allow is the dismantling of things like eBay, where thousands if not millions of independent citizens sell and resell goods all the time across state lines. If, on first sale, those items were to be taxed, eBay would be crushed as those citizens vacated the auction site and killed a huge chunk of eBay’s income.

Also, the major sponsors of this bill already collect taxes because they have a physical presence in most of the states – they tout that they are ‘leveling’ the playing field. What they’re really doing is being butt-hurt because they don’t want to reduce their margins by lowering prices. This bill is an attempt to legislate whininess – CEO pansies who need to make returns to their investors disregarding the general American public for profit. Again. The state already has the power to raise and lower state taxes. If they wanted to be competitive, they could lower the sales tax. Businesses have the power to regulate their own goods. If they wanted to be competitive, they could lower prices. Instead, they’re taking it to our representatives and making them spank us for enjoying a little honest competition. Meanwhile, congress does dumb things like pass CISPA, the NDAA, and a host of other bills that continue to take away our rights and our earnings so some country or company can enjoy more of our money.

If you’re riled up, like I am, then take a good 20 minutes out of your day to send the following message, or your variant thereof, to all of the senators listed in the link above. If they want to tax us without representation*, then we sure as hell can hold them all accountable for their actions.

Stay the course of vigilance.

*******

Dear Senator –

I am a humble citizen of the United States of America. As I have attempted to rally other vigilant citizens nationwide who oppose the Marketplace Fairness Act, I would like to take the opportunity to present to you reasons why passing this bill is an assault on the economy and consumer confidence.

1. This bill opens citizens in states with a sales or use tax to potentially pay 2 taxes: The tax for that state and the tax for the state from which goods or services were purchased. This means that a citizen from California, my home, would be paying taxes to another state, funds which will drive programs in that state that do not represent that citizen. The taxpayer has no say in state initiatives that operate outside that citizen’s home state. This goes against the very tenets of our great United States – taxation without representation is a huge slap in the face to consumers.

2. The major sponsors of this bill have physical facilities in pretty much every state, so they are already collecting state taxes for consumers in those states that employ taxes. For the independent business that has local and interstate income, the business becomes less profitable and less appealing to its customer base. We all know that increased taxes means increased prices – companies pass it on to the consumer to make up for potential losses. Just one more way consumers will reserve scrutiny when they shop and participate less in the ecosphere.

 

3. 90% of consumer goods are still purchased in brick and mortar stores, even if those stores have an online presence. This bill is being touted as ‘levelling the playing field’ for independent businesses but that is just a mask. This bill is highly in favor of driving local mom and pop shops out of business as they will be tasked with the burden of manufacturing quality goods and calculating the augmented tax rates. Big Corporations have flocks of legal teams employed to handle these situations for them, and while I applaud the employment of these legal scholars, mom and pop shops keep quality a priority by not having teams of extraneous employees doing things a business owner ought to be able to do herself. 

 

The majority of Americans are hard-working, honest-to-goodness salt-of-the-Earth folk.I strongly urge you to reconsider an alternative: Allowing the States to decide whether they want to levy additional taxes, a power they already have. If States want to be more competitive in the market, they can lower those rates as they wish. If businesses want to be more competitive in the market, they can lower prices. Just because a business didn’t increase it’s profit over last year doesn’t mean that business didn’t make a profit. 

 

On Behalf of Interested Local Markets and the Consumer at Large, I implore you: Don’t pass The Marketplace Fairness Act. Let those interested parties find their own solutions and allow you to focus on the bigger issues of a Federal Government

 

(your name)

(your city and state)

*****

*I want to point out that taxation without representation is not in the constitution. If it were, then taxes couldn’t be levied on convicts or immigrants like they are. This is not constitutionally protected, and that’s why they can do this.

About awakenedvisionary

I am a person of utmost integrity. I believe that finding the facts is more important than discovering truth. The world we live in today has become convoluted by emergent technologies we don't fully understand, and globalized morals we can't possibly implement. This is the place I go for my rants about society. I hope you will find some interests to discuss here. Perhaps we can help each other empower ourselves. I'm sure you will find I hold some rather extreme beliefs about society, and some very unique views. Regardless, I'm quite hospitable, and look forward to entertaining your perspectives as well as sharing my own.

View all posts by awakenedvisionary →