A coalition of taxpayer groups, consumers, small businesses and Internet companies has been established in California in opposition to a new law for consumers to pay taxes on Internet purchases at checkout.
The More Jobs Not Taxes committee has been established to give Californians “a voice and a choice” on what they see as an unconstitutional new tax law.
Why they should call it unconstitutional is not clear, given that most US states already have a sales tax on physical retail sales, but Californians seem to be as excited about this as Bostonians were about the Tea Act in 1773.
Marc Duerr, director of legislative services for the California Business Alliance is concerned about business opportunities being lost to neighboring states. "With state unemployment over 11 percent and companies moving to business-friendly states like Arizona and Nevada, Californians have had it with Sacramento politicians passing new tax laws that hurt the state's economy instead of focusing on creating jobs," he said.
"This new tax law will come at the expense of California taxpayers who will be forced to pay even more to fuel the politicians' wasteful spending."
The committee is gathering signatures statewide to place a referendum of ABx1 28, the new Internet tax law, before voters on the June 2012 ballot.
Rebecca Madigan, executive director of the Performance Marketing Association said: "The PMA believes Californians should have a voice and a choice on the harmful new tax law that will cost the state jobs and investment. We are encouraged at the overwhelming response to the efforts of the More Jobs Not Taxes referendum campaign and remain confident that it will collect more than enough signatures to place this measure on the ballot.
“Over the next several months we look forward to having a conversation with Californians about the truth, and bringing jobs and investment back to this great state by overturning this misguided law at the ballot box."
"California is the Internet and technology capital of the world, but this new tax law threatens tens of thousands of California's small Internet businesses and entrepreneurs that could be creating jobs and boosting the state's economy," said Tammy Cota, executive director, Internet Alliance. "We support the referendum against this new tax law because California can't afford to lose thousands of small businesses and hobble the state's economic recovery. This referendum gives the people of California an opportunity to get the state back on the right track."
As an English observer, I’m interested to see whether this will evolve into a new revolution, or whether it’s just a storm in a teacup.
Martin Ashcroft – Editor
