Steve Daines: “Thanks much to my good friend from Kentucky, Mr. Thomas Massie, for coordinating this Special Order here tonight. I…”

“Thanks much to my good friend from Kentucky, Mr. Thomas Massie, for coordinating this Special Order here tonight. I appreciate it greatly. We're here tonight to share our strong opposition to the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act. This is a bill that mandates small businesses to collect sales tax on behalf of other cities and States when selling products over the Internet. The problem is this bill would fundamentally change how online purchases are taxed and would impose yet another burden on small businesses across the country, but especially like my home State of Montana. You see, in Montana we don't have a statewide sales tax. In fact, we often say you know you're a native Montanan if you voted against a sales tax twice. But I will have to say that in my home State we have a balanced budget requirement. And not only did our State balance its budget this year, we're running a surplus, and we've done that without a sales tax. And Washington should do the same. They should learn how to balance their budget, and they don't have to impose a sales tax that's imposed on businesses across this country. But even though we don't have a sales tax, under this legislation, Montana small businesses would be forced to collect sales taxes for up to 9,600 cities and States, none of which would go back to the people of Montana. Let me be clear. This isn't just a bill that hurts no sales tax States like Montana.…”