Melvin Watt: “I thought that we could not in the Committee on the Judiciary make a quick judgment about how to create a level playing…”

“I thought that we could not in the Committee on the Judiciary make a quick judgment about how to create a level playing field between brick and mortar stores and e-commerce sales. The Commission has failed in my estimation, and I think we do need some kind of extension of the moratorium. I do not think that 5 years is an appropriate extension. I think it is way too long to extend this moratorium, because what we have in addition, related to the moratorium itself, is a companion issue which deals with how we create a level playing field between retailers and other businesses that are operating in brick and mortar stores and people who are selling over the Internet. Right now, brick and mortar stores are at a competitive disadvantage because they have to collect local sales taxes. In many cases, e-commerce is able to evade those local sales taxes, and that puts brick and mortar stores at a competitive disadvantage.”