A RESOLUTION

 

1Memorializing the Congress of the United States to pass and the
2President of the United States to sign the Marketplace
3Fairness Act of 2013 or a similar act to provide uniform
4measures for the collection of states' sales and use taxes.

5WHEREAS, As the result of a series of United States Supreme
6Court cases dealing with state taxation of mail order catalog
7retailers, including Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298
8(1992) and National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue 
9of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753 (1967), a state is generally unable to
10require a retailer without a physical presence in that state to
11collect sales and use tax on its behalf; and

12WHEREAS, Pennsylvania has long imposed a sales tax on each
13sale at retail of tangible personal property or taxable services
14within this Commonwealth, with the retailer required to collect
15the tax from the purchaser and to remit the collected tax to the
16Commonwealth; and

17WHEREAS, If the retailer does not collect the sales tax on a
18taxable sale at retail, and the purchaser uses the purchased

1item or service within this Commonwealth, the purchaser is
2legally required to pay use tax directly to the Commonwealth;
3and

4WHEREAS, The burden on individual purchasers or consumers to
5track, calculate and remit the correct amount of use tax is
6significant, resulting in low rates of compliance and reduced
7state tax collections; and

8WHEREAS, A 2011 study by Robert Strauss, Professor of
9Economics and Public Policy at the Heinz College, Carnegie
10Mellon University, projected that Pennsylvania would lose
11between $254 million and $410 million in sales and use taxes in
122012 due to the inability to require retailers without a
13physical presence in this Commonwealth to collect sales and use
14taxes; and

15WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue has taken
16measures to improve the collection of this tax, including the
17addition of a section for the use tax on the standard
18Pennsylvania tax return form (PA-40) and by clarifying the nexus
19standard for retailers with physical presence in this
20Commonwealth through a subsidiary, representative or agent; and

21WHEREAS, While the recent measures by the Department of
22Revenue to improve collections have resulted in increased
23compliance, much remains uncollected; and

24WHEREAS, The inability to collect sales and use tax on
25purchases made from retailers that do not have a physical
26presence in this Commonwealth has created a disadvantage for
27this Commonwealth's brick-and-mortar retailers that are required
28to collect the sales and use tax; and

29WHEREAS, The 2011 study by Professor Strauss projected that
30uniform collection of the sales and use tax across all retailers

1would result in job growth by Pennsylvania-based brick-and-
2mortar retailers of between 1,530 and 2,766 jobs, which would
3generate between $66 million and $119 million in wages; and

4WHEREAS, The growth of retail sales on the Internet has
5exacerbated the problem for taxpayers and the Commonwealth far
6beyond the circumstances considered when the Quill case was
7decided; and

8WHEREAS, Congress is in the best position to standardize the
9nationwide collection of sales and use taxes from retailers that
10do not have a physical presence in the state where the tax is
11due; and

12WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court stated in Quill that
13the problem "is not only one that Congress may be better
14qualified to resolve, but also one that Congress has the
15ultimate power to resolve"; and

16WHEREAS, On May 6, 2013, the United States Senate passed the
17Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, which would provide nationwide
18standards for the collection of sales and use taxes from out-of-
19state retailers, by a vote of 69 to 27; and

20WHEREAS, The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 is currently
21being considered by the Committee on the Judiciary in the United
22States House of Representatives; and

23WHEREAS, On September 18, 2013, Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-
24Va.) and Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and
25Antitrust Law Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) issued a
26statement outlining the framework the committee will follow when
27considering the legislation; and

28WHEREAS, The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 would simply
29standardize the collection of existing taxes that are already
30due; it would not expand an existing tax nor would it create a

1new tax; and

2WHEREAS, The additional revenue that is already due to the
3Commonwealth that would be collected under the Marketplace
4Fairness Act of 2013 could be used to prevent future tax
5increases and to provide tax relief to all Pennsylvanians; and

6WHEREAS, A 2013 study by economists Arthur B. Laffer and
7Donna Arduin projects that over the next ten years the enactment
8of the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 could empower states to
9implement pro-growth tax policies that would result in a
10nationwide increase in gross domestic product (GDP) of $563.2
11billion and add over 1.5 million new jobs, with $15.1 billion in
12GDP growth and 43,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania; therefore be it

13RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives memorialize the
14Congress of the United States to pass and the President of the
15United States to sign the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, or a
16similar act, to provide uniform measures for the collection of
17states' sales and use taxes; and be it further

18RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
19the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
20each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
21Pennsylvania.