HM 157

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the members of the Florida congressional
3	delegation, urging them to co-sponsor the Main Street
4	Fairness Act and support its adoption by the Congress of
5	the United States.
6
7	WHEREAS, in National Bellas Hess, Inc., v. Department of
8	Revenue of the State of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753 (1967), and Quill
9	Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), the Supreme Court of
10	the United States held that the Commerce Clause of the United
11	States Constitution limits the authority of states to require
12	remote sellers to collect sales and use taxes from their
13	customers, and
14	WHEREAS, the combined weight of the inability to collect
15	sales and use taxes on remote sales through traditional carriers
16	and the tax erosion due to electronic commerce threatens the
17	future viability of the sales tax as a stable revenue source for
18	states and local governments, and
19	WHEREAS, the Center for Business and Economic Research at
20	the University of Tennessee has estimated that states will lose
21	as much as $23 billion in 2012 because they were not able to
22	collect taxes on remote sales, including sales over the
23	Internet, and
24	WHEREAS, the University of Tennessee study estimated that
25	Florida will lose as much as $1.4 billion in 2012 because of the
26	inability to require remote sellers to collect our state's sales
27	and use taxes, and
28	WHEREAS, since 1999, state legislators, governors, local
29	elected officials, state tax administrators, and representatives
30	of the private sector have worked to develop a streamlined sales
31	and use tax collection system for the 21st century, and
32	WHEREAS, on November 12, 2002, state delegates unanimously
33	ratified the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which
34	substantially simplifies state and local sales tax systems,
35	removes the burdens to interstate commerce that were of concern
36	to the Supreme Court, and protects state sovereignty, and
37	WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement
38	provides the states with a blueprint to create a simplified and
39	more uniform sales and use tax collection system and is
40	justification for Congress to permit states that are parties to
41	the agreement to collect sales and use taxes from remote
42	sellers, and
43	WHEREAS, as of October 1, 2009, 23 states, Arkansas,
44	Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada,
45	Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio,
46	Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont,
47	Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, representing
48	more than 35 percent of the total population of the United
49	States, enacted legislation to bring their state's sales and use
50	tax laws into compliance with the agreement, and
51	WHEREAS, the Main Street Fairness Act will be introduced in
52	the 111th Congress to grant those states that comply with the
53	agreement the authority to require all sellers, regardless of
54	nexus, to collect those states' sales and use taxes, and
55	WHEREAS, the following unions, organizations, and
56	businesses support the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement
57	and the federal legislation granting states collection
58	authority: Alabama Retail Association; American Booksellers
59	Association; Arizona Retailers Association; Arkansas Grocers and
60	Retail Merchants Association; Associated Industries of Florida;
61	Best Buy, Inc.; California Retailers Association; Colorado
62	Retail Council; Connecticut Retail Merchants Association;
63	Council of State Governments; Council of State Retail
64	Associations; Council On State Taxation; Cracker Barrel Old
65	Country Store, Inc.; CTIA-The Wireless Association; Federation
66	of Tax Administrators; First Washington Realty, Inc.; Florida
67	Chamber of Commerce; Florida Retail Federation; Florida Tax
68	Watch; General Growth Properties, Inc.; Georgia Retail
69	Association; Retail Merchants Association of Hawaii; Home Depot,
70	Inc.; Idaho Retailers Association; Illinois Retail Merchants
71	Association; Independent Music Retailers Association; Indiana
72	Retail Council; International Council of Shopping Centers;
73	International Union of Police Associations; Iowa Retail
74	Federation; J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.; Jack in the Box,
75	Inc.; Jewelers of America; Kansas Retail Council; Kentucky
76	Retail Federation; Kimco Realty Corporation; Kmart Corporation;
77	Land's End; Louisiana Retailers Association; Maine Merchants
78	Association; Maryland Retailers Association; Retailers
79	Association of Massachusetts; Michigan Retailers Association;
80	Minnesota Retailers Association; Retail Association of
81	Mississippi; Missouri Retailers Association; National
82	Association of Chain Drug Stores; National Association of
83	College Stores; National Association of Industrial and Office
84	Properties; National Association of Real Estate Investment
85	Trusts; National Bicycle Dealers Association; National
86	Conference of State Legislatures; National Education
87	Association; National Governors Association; National Office
88	Products Alliance; National Retail Federation; Nebraska Retail
89	Federation; Retail Association of Nevada; New England
90	Independent Booksellers Association; New Jersey Retail Merchants
91	Association; New Mexico Retail Association; Retail Council of
92	New York State; Newspaper Association of America; North American
93	Retail Dealers Association; North Carolina Retail Merchants
94	Association; North Dakota Retail Association; Northern
95	California Independent Booksellers Association; Ohio Council of
96	Retail Merchants; Oklahoma Retail Council; Pacific Northwest
97	Booksellers Association; Pennsylvania Retailers' Association;
98	Performance Automotive Retailers; Performance Warehouse
99	Association; PetSmart, Inc.; RadioShack Corporation; Real Estate
100	Roundtable; Retail Industry Leaders Association; Rhode Island
101	Retail Federation; Ross Stores, Inc.; Sears Holdings
102	Corporation; Simon Property Group, Inc.; South Carolina Retail
103	Association; South Dakota Retailers Association; Staples, Inc.;
104	Target Corporation; Tennessee Retail Association; Gap, Inc.; The
105	Macerich Company; The TJX Companies, Inc.; USTelecom; Utah
106	Retail Merchants Association; Vermont Retail Association;
107	Virginia Retail Merchants Association; Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.;
108	Washington Retail Association; Weingarten Realty Investors; West
109	Acres Development, LLP; Westfield Group; Wisconsin Merchants
110	Federation; and Wyoming Retail Merchants Association, and
111	WHEREAS, until Congress enacts the Main Street Fairness
112	Act, participation by remote sellers under the Streamlined Sales
113	and Use Tax Agreement is only voluntary and thus, without
114	congressional action, states are unlikely to close the revenue
115	gap between what is owed on remote transactions and what is
116	collected, and
117	WHEREAS, Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri has termed this
118	federal legislation as "fiscal relief for the states that does
119	not cost the federal government a single cent" and this
120	legislation ensures the viability of the sales and use tax as a
121	state revenue source, NOW, THEREFORE,
122
123	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
124
125	That the Legislature of the State of Florida:
126	(1)  Calls upon the members of the Florida congressional
127	delegation to join as co-sponsors of the Main Street Fairness
128	Act and to support its swift adoption by the Congress of the
129	United States.
130	(2)  Urges President Barack Obama to sign the Main Street
131	Fairness Act into law upon its passage by the Congress.
132	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
133	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
134	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
135	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
136	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.