Brick-and-Mortar Fairness BS

Last week I sent a facsimile to my three Congressional representatives asking they resist the internet sales tax.  Both of my Senators voted for it, have not check on the work of David Scott if he has yet the chance to vote.
Yesterday I received this tender response to my petition from the soon to be retired Senator Saxby Chambliss. The text is proofed but contextually unchanged.

From: Senator Saxby Chambliss

Sent: Thu, May 9, 2013 9:52:16 AM

Subject: Responding to your message

Dear  Mr. Man:  that is not really my name

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding federal tax policy.  Your taking the time to contact me is appreciated. 

Over 20 years have passed since the Supreme Court found (Quill v. North Dakota) that current state and local sales tax rules were too complicated to require retailers to collect sales taxes unles s they had a physical presence in the state of the consumer. This decision resulted in legislative responses at both the state and Federal level. 

States responded by adopting, the "Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement," a comprehensive interstate system to streamline and harmonize their tax rules and administrative requirements. This agreement was approved by 34 states and the District of Columbia, and became effective in 2005.   Georgia became a full member state in 2012. 

Congress' attempted responses to the Supreme Court's decision have been varied. While some proposals have been drafted to simply sanction the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, other proposals have attempted to create new "internet sales taxes," a course of action that I do not support. 

Earlier this year, S. 336, the Marketplace Fairness Act, was introduced and referred to t he Senate Committee on Finance.  S. 336 was not passed out of committee for consideration by the full Senate , though identical legislation, S. 743, was recently considered by the full Senate . 

On  May 6 , I , along with   68 of my colleagues voted on  S. 743 , the  new Marketplace Fairness  bill ,  which would sanction the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement that the State o f Georgia has already adopted.  S. 743 ultimately passed the Senate with a 69-27 vote margin.  I believe Congress should enable brick-and-mortar retailers to operate on the same playing field as e-commerce retailers. This bill ensures that local businesses are not placed at an unfair disadvantage compared to their online competitors. 

Whenever legislation regarding internet taxation or the collection and remittance of local sales taxes is considered by the full Senate, I will certainly keep your views in mind.

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at:  www.chambliss.senate.gov .  Please let me know how I may be of assistance.  

Well, to get to the point of it, I have been ready a new book on Alexander Hamilton's wishes to circumvent the Constitution for the creation of a strong centralized government that is hyper-involved in business transactions, the Senator's vote pissed me off.  The real reason for the vote is, the federal government has to collect more tax money because it is spending more than it is bringing in. Never in the equation is the consideration they not spend so much.  During the current sequester, people have not been laid off, just taken down a pay notch ready to bounce back first catastrophe the politicians grab as an excuse.  So I sent him a letter back, we'll see if it bounces.

Senator Chambliss,

You have thanked me for correspondence regarding federal tax policy.  This was followed by an arcane set of reasons you applied to justify endorsing a new tax.  

I find it amusing that a Senator who has made a promise to not create taxes uses the excuse that the application was to foster greater fairness.  Taxes add expense to goods which in turn reduce the amount of good that can be purchased.  Taxes are never fair to the consumer no matter how dishonestly portrayed.  

Speaking on the matter of fairness, if individual states have difficulty collecting taxes on internet sales and now the federal government is collecting those monies, is it within the plan that those monies collected will be distributed to the states? Of course not. 

When our central government creates new regulation on business, in this case in the form of taxes, the resultant regulation is a designed by the business leaders of the current dominant participants in that business, this is a construct that promotes business inefficiency by way of constricted competition.

You sir have broken your promise and helped create something that is anything but "fair".

Sorely disappointed,

Mr. Man

Mableton Georgia

I am glad that Senator Chambliss is retiring, his actions in the last few years have not been in the interests of his entire state, excluding the farmers of south Georgia, he has become a good example of the failure of the 17th Amendment to citizens (not the point of view of the Senate for sure).
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