Seizing on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to take a pass on hearing challenges by Amazon.com of New York’s sales-tax laws, an association of 500 Connecticut retailers has signed onto a renewed push for Congress to address the matter.
In a Jan. 7 letter to the Committee on the Judiciary in the U.S. House of Representatives, more than 300 associations and businesses, including the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association, urged legislators to pass a bill giving state more power to collect sales tax from Internet retailers.
The signees want the House to take up The Marketplace Fairness Act, a measure passed by U.S. Senate in May that would give states the authority to pursue tax collections from out-of-state Internet retailers if they simplify their tax codes.
Supporters cite a study by supply-side economist Art Laffer — who is credited with designing the tax-cutting policies of the Reagan administration — that said fixing the sales-tax loophole would result in 1.5 million new jobs over the next decade.
The letter was also signed by several Connecticut companies, including Hartford’s Hutensky Capital Partners, Simsbury’s Hart Realty Advisers, Norwalk’s FedTax and the Monte Cristo Bookshop in New London.
