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In farewell speech, Haley Barbour pushes for online sales tax
In his final speech to the Mississippi Legislature on Wednesday, Gov. Haley Barbour (R) called for federal legislation to allow states to tax online purchases.
"It is time for the federal government to allow Mississippi and every other state to choose to enforce our laws and to collect these taxes," Barbour said. "They are owed us today, and there is no longer any public-policy reason to keep us from collecting."
Legislation pending before Congress, the Marketplace Fairness Act, would empower states to force online retailers to collect sales taxes.
"Indeed, good public policy says it is past time that our brick-and-mortar merchants on Main Street and in our shopping centers get a level playing field with Amazon and the Internet — that they get fair treatment for paying our taxes," said Barbour, who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee during the 1990s.
The National Retail Federation, which represents traditional stores, is lobbying hard for the online tax. Amazon also backs the measure, arguing the country needs a single national framework for collecting Internet sales taxes.
But many Web companies, including eBay, are lobbying against the bill. They say it would stifle online commerce and destroy jobs.
Barbour said according to some estimates, the bill would allow Mississippi to collect an additional $300 million.
"We could increase our spending on education or public safety or economic development or we could reduce the sales tax rate or the income tax rate. So this is not about spending," Barbour said. "This is about being allowed to collect the money that is already owed to us, and our authority to collect is being usurped by the federal government."
Barbour plans to rejoin lobbying firm BGR Group, which he co-founded, after he leaves office.
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