Montana Votes Against an Online Sales Tax

Floor Speech

Mr. DAINES. Madam Speaker, today I rise in strong opposition to the Marketplace Fairness Act. This is a bill that mandates small businesses to collect sales tax on behalf of other cities and States when selling products over the Internet.

This bill would fundamentally change how online purchases are taxed and would impose yet another burden on Montana's small businesses. You see, back home in Montana, we don't have a Statewide sales tax. In fact, we often say that ``You know you're a native Montanan if you've voted against a sales tax twice.''

But under this legislation, which the Senate passed last night, Montana's small businesses would be forced to collect sales tax for up to 9,600 cities and States--none of which would go to Montana. The added costs and the burden of more paperwork and more regulations would severely undermine many small businesses in our State.

As a fifth-generation Montanan who supports our State's no sales tax policy, I strongly oppose this legislation, and I will fight to stop it should it reach the House floor.

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