May 13, 2013 03:48 PM UTC

That's The Point, Scott Tipton

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Durango Herald's Stephanie Dazio reports:

The U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act by a 69-27 vote last week. The bill generally would subject online shopping to state sales taxes. The taxes would be sent to the state where the purchaser lives.

Current law says states can force retailers to collect sales taxes only if the company has a physical presence in the state.

That can give online companies a leg up over brick-and-mortar stores that must collect taxes on all transactions.

A few years ago, Colorado tried to "encourage" online retailers to collect and remit Colorado's state use tax, which has always technically been owed on online purchases under Colorado law but uncollectible in practice due to federal restrictions on state sales tax remittance dating from the Sears Catalog era. Local retailers led by the Colorado Retail Council supported this legislation, citing the years-long drop in sales for local "brick and mortar" retailers at the hands of online merchants–who enjoyed a competitive advantage for local consumers, and use the same taxpayer-funded infrastructure for product delivery that local retailers do. What's more, local retailers are often used by consumers as "showrooms" for products they then buy online tax-free, adding insult to injury.

Colorado Republicans energetically fought against the so-called "Amazon tax" bill, claiming the measure would "hurt Colorado business," when it in fact was intended to level the playing field on behalf of local business. Ultimately, though, Colorado's attempt to push online merchants to collect and remit Colorado sales tax wound up mired in court. Meanwhile, the push for a federal solution began as other states pressed the issue–which led to passage in the Senate of the Marketplace Fairness Act last week. A key change was on the part of Amazon, the same internet retail giant who fought the Colorado tax legislation at all costs. With Amazon on board, taxation of online purchases in every state seems closer than ever.

But don't tell that to Colorado's Rep. Scott Tipton, folks.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, will oppose it, said his spokesman Josh Green.

“Do we really need to be raising taxes?” Green said. “It’s going to impact local businesses.” [Pols emphasis]

Now folks, as we've just explained, and as local businesses throughout Rep. Tipton's district would tell him if he listened to them, a measure of fairness for local brick and mortar retail is the point of the legislation. That's why local retailers have pushed for this for years at the local and federal level. In addition to boosting revenue for the state of Colorado, brick-and-mortar retail can finally begin to recover from a competitive disadvantage they have suffered from against large internet retailers for over a decade.

So yes, dunderhead! It's going to "impact local businesses." As in positively.