Heidi Alexander: “I thank Senator Durbin and Senator Enzi for their hard work. They have taken a problem and simplified it and solved it…”

“I thank Senator Durbin and Senator Enzi for their hard work. They have taken a problem and simplified it and solved it, in my opinion. This is an 11-page bill, a rarity. It does only one thing. It gives States and State legislatures the right to decide to collect sales and use taxes that are already owed from all the people who owe it rather than just some of the people who owe it. I have a very conservative friend over here on the Republican side who said to me: I hate taxes, but the one thing I hate worse is people who owe taxes who do not pay them. That is what this is about. But for me as a former Governor, there is something even more important; that is, the importance that we respect our constitutional framework, which says Governors and legislatures should make their own decisions about their services and their taxes. That is the spirit of the 10th amendment. That is the spirit of this country. We don't require States to play Mother May I to the Congress of the United States. So we say to the Governor of Tennessee and the legislature of Tennessee: You decide whether you want to allow people who owe the sales tax not to have to pay it because the sellers do not collect it. That is why many Democratic Governors support this. But a growing number, an honor role of conservative leaders and Governors, support the Marketplace Fairness Act. Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union, supports it.…”