On the recordApril 23, 2013
I join my colleague Senator Reed of Rhode Island and I thank Senators Enzi and Durbin for their hard work on S. 743. I rise to speak in favor of the Marketplace Fairness Act. This legislation will put businesses in Hawaii on an even playing field with their out-of-State competitors. It does this by giving the States--not the Federal Government, the States--the authority to require out-of- State merchants to collect the same taxes local merchants have to collect when they sell goods to customers in Hawaii. This is only fair. I want to be clear about what this bill does and what it does not do because there is some confusion about what this bill does and doesn't do. For example, this bill does not impose a new Federal sales tax. This bill does not require the States to do anything. In fact, if this bill becomes law, nothing would change unless a State passes its own legislation. What this bill does do is to give States that choice. It lets each State choose whether to level the playing field for its local businesses. In addition, this legislation provides a framework that ensures States can exercise this authority in a way that ensures fairness for businesses of all sizes. For example, it requires any State that chooses to exercise this new authority to streamline its sales and use taxes, and to provide free software to calculate these taxes to out-of-State sellers.…
