Gov. Gregoire�s statement on Marketplace Fairness Act

For Immediate Release: November 9, 2011

OLYMPIA � Gov. Chris Gregoire issued the following statement on the Marketplace Fairness Act introduced today by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Mike Enzi (R-WY). If passed, the legislation would give states the authority to collect sales tax from remote sellers:

�I applaud Senators Durbin, Alexander and Enzi for the introduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act. This bi-partisan bill is critical to stop the erosion of our sales tax base, particularly as we continue to struggle to come out of the deepest and longest recession since the Great Depression.

�Without this legislation, Washington and our local governments are collectively losing more than $400 million in the current biennium to untaxed online commerce, and more than $1 billion in the next biennium � exacerbating the budget crisis we face in Olympia. It is important to note that these are not new taxes. These are merely current taxes that should be assessed and collected but are not.

�Our main street stores � large and small, alike �compete with out-of-state competitors who aren�t collecting sales tax on sales to Washington customers. Businesses should compete on price, quality and service, not on the ability of one class of competitor to avoid collecting sales tax.

�The bill introduced today allows states like Washington that have already adopted tax simplifications through the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to collect the sales tax already due from remote sellers. Because Washington is ahead of many states, we will be one of the first to begin collecting after enactment.

�It�s time for Congress to address the inequities that have given Internet and mail order retailers an unfair competitive advantage over in-state mom and pop retailers and larger retailers like REI. The Marketplace Fairness Act rights a long-standing wrong and I look forward to seeing President Obama sign the bill.�

For more information on the legislation, visit: http://enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=1736f196-00a6-42fa-887a-1c4bdb6a2f33