Business

More Republicans backing online sales tax

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Betsi Fores The Daily Caller News Foundation
Font Size:

The online sales tax is starting to win support from an unlikely source: traditionally anti-tax Republicans.

Many Republican governors have come to the bill’s defense, including Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, from the home of Wal-Mart. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has even built his budget around the assumption that the state will collect nearly $1.6 billion from the online sales tax over the next five years, money that will help pay for transportation projects and public education.

Other GOP governors who have lobbied for the authority to collect sales tax from online purchases include Chris Christie of New Jersey and Rick Snyder of Michigan.

There is talk that the bill may be attached to a more comprehensive tax overhaul bill. Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin argued they were separate issues.

“This is separate,” Durbin, an online sales tax bill sponsor, said. “Even though the ‘tax’ word is involved in it, it strictly involves state and local tax revenues,” the Hill reports.

Some supporters think this may help the online sales tax bill pass, however.

“When you’re a proponent, you’re always looking for some vehicle to carry your issue,” Vermont Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, a sponsor of the sales tax proposal, said. “So sure. Theoretically it could be. But it just doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

Follow Betsi on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Correction: An earlier edition of this story ran saying that Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte was in favor of the online sales tax bill. Goodlatte is not in favor of the current proposed legislation, the Marketplace Equity Act.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Betsi Fores