Small Businesses Renew E-Fairness Call

Oceanside CA – Local small businesses are joining a renewed call for E-Fairness legislation to be passed out of Congress.

In today’s rhetoric, you’ll never hear a politician who isn’t a “friend to small business.” Even consumers have become enamored with the “buy local” campaign. But for all of this support, many small businesses still struggle to compete with online retailers. They claim the tax system isn’t doing them any favors by giving internet retailers a permanent advantage: the Internet Sales Tax loophole.

“Its an unfair tax loophole,” says local Oceanside florist Ali Vasggerdi of Semper Fi Flowers.

Brick-and-mortar businesses, like your neighborhood flower or bike shop, are all required to collect state and local sales taxes. Even though it’s usually less that 10%, it makes all of the merchandise in the store a little more expensive compared to companies online. And any business owner knows – pennies really add up.

Giant online retailers can currently avoid charging these online sales taxes, which puts local small businesses at a structural disadvantage. Small businesses already have an uphill battle against gigantic corporations. The last thing small business owners say they need, is a government-enforced advantage given to their out-of-state, online competition. “By not closing the loophole, the federal government is choosing winners and losers in the free market,” says Jaeson Amarillias of J&D Photography.

Congress hasn’t touched the issue of out-of-state, online sales tax collecting since the early days of the Internet. Some small business owners say it’s time to re-write the rules, step into the 21st century, and level the playing field. The only way to do that is require online retailers to collect sales tax.

Those who argue against the issue, say closing the loophole is tantamount to bringing a new tax. Small businesses say that the “new tax” argument is just a scare tactic of some “free market” opponents. In reality, these taxes are already due at the point of sale. But because online retailers aren’t legally required to collect them, it’s left to the consumer to report their online purchases to the state. It’s fair to assume this doesn’t happen very often.

Those supporting E-Fairness are saying, that if Congress is truly serious about boosting local economies, buying local or supporting small business, they’ll pass e-fairness legislation and require online retailers to collect sales taxes just like every other business.

Oceanside resides in the CA-49th Congressional District, currently held by Darrel Issa (R).