WKSU News: Survey says most Ohioans oppose a federal internet sales tax

Thursday, July 17, 2014 Survey says most Ohioans oppose a federal internet sales tax Some say the proposed tax in unfair, others say it is necessary to allow brick-and-mortar stores to compete by WKSU's ANDY CHOW	Reporter Andy Chow

A Washington think tanks is pushing against attempts to add a federal internet tax.

Courtesy of Bjørn Bulthuis

A national conservative-leaning think tank says a majority of Ohioans are against a proposed federal internet sales tax laws. But business groups say something has to change.

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The D.C.-based think tank R Street says more than 56 percent of Ohioans polled are against out-of-state taxation on e-commerce.

Executive Director Andrew Moylan says the federal proposal known as the Marketplace Fairness Act would create an un-level playing field.

“If you’re a brick-and-mortar retailer, you get to use this simple easy standard of collecting based on where you’re located, whereas you would be forcing online businesses to have to jump through all of these hoops to figure out tax obligations across the country,” Moylan says.

But the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants says the current system is unfair to the brick-and-mortar retailers who continue to collect taxes. The group notes a study shows that Ohio is losing out on $200 million of sales tax revenue every year.