Max Baucus: “I rise today to urge the Senate not to move forward on the Marketplace Fairness Act. This bill forces small businesses…”

“I rise today to urge the Senate not to move forward on the Marketplace Fairness Act. This bill forces small businesses across the country to spend time and resources they should be using to create jobs, jumping through new bureaucratic hoops. In Montana it forces our small businesses to play tax collector for other States, with absolutely no benefit to them. Instead of slapping more redtape on our small businesses, we need to be supporting their work to create jobs and get our economy going. Let me be very clear. This bill is bad for business and bad for jobs. This bill is not ready for debate on the Senate floor. It has not been completely thought through and is full of unintended consequences that could seriously harm America's small businesses. Supporters of the Marketplace Fairness Act claim this bill would level the playing field between Main Street businesses and out-of-State businesses by forcing both to collect sales taxes from customers. The bill's sponsors claim this is fair. The reality, however, is this legislation is anything but fair to America's small businesses. This legislation doesn't help businesses expand and grow and hire more employees. Instead, it forces small businesses to hire expensive lawyers and accountants to deal with the burdensome paperwork and added complexity of tax rules and filings across multiple States. This is a big-box bill. This is not a downtown bill. Our vanishing downtowns are in crisis.…”