Dirty tricks, 'Marketplace Fairness Act' is anything but

A controversial bill that would impose sales taxes on online retailers has passed the Senate and now goes to the house where it is expected to face strong opposition. The bill is supported by Obama, Amazon, and Wal-Mart.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Senate has passed a bill that could end tax-free online shopping for Americans. Called the Marketplace Fairness Act, the bill would impose sales taxes on online retailers who generate over $1 million in annual revenues in addition to state local sales taxes. It levels the playing field by making online retailers pay just like traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

Catholic Online is among those opposing the bill, which merely serves to handicap retailers while diverting business profit margins towards government coffers. President Obama, always hungry for new tax revenues supports the measure.

Surprisingly, online retailer Amazon also supports the measure, although they would have to pay more under the new law in the short-term. Amazon already pays taxes in many states because it has built physical distribution centers across the U.S.

The tax however, does nothing to boost business, and instead simply handicaps online retailers by making their operations more expensive. The tax does nothing for consumers either.

What's also surprising is that the public remains largely unaware that this change is coming for a close, heated battle in Congress.

Several anti-tax and spend watchdog groups as well as Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have sounded the alarm for consumers and already voted against the bill.

Online retailer, eBay is also opposing the bill.

If the bill passes the House, Obama will sign it and your online shopping prices could easily climb by 10 percent. For consumers who rely on online shopping to get through the holidays, or to fill needs that local retailers can't, this amounts to another tax increase.

While an online tax certainly won't kill online shopping, it will have a chilling effect on the economy as both businesses and consumers must give Obama greater share of the already-shrunken pie.

There's nothing fair about a tax whose sole purpose is to punish businesses that employ an efficient business model. The tax does nothing to improve consumer choice, rights, or value. It's another case of big business using its influence in Washington to compete by legislation against small, private retailers.

Catholic Online would like to encourage readers to contact their Congressional representative and voice opposition to this mislabeled law, which would destroy marketplace fairness by returning the advantage to box-box retailers such as Wal-Mart by punishing small business owners and online shoppers.

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