by Bill McClellan on Apr 25, 2018 3:00:00 AM Government Relations

Last week, I reported to ERA’s Board of Directors about a critical case the U.S. Supreme Court had decided to take up and hear arguments on. Effectively, the Supreme Court has decided to re-hear arguments on the online sales tax issue.

While the Justices were debating, the USA Today Editorial Board reached out to ERA and asked me to write an opposing view opinion editorial on the Online Sales Tax argument. They published the piece titled, “Leave online sales tax to Congress.”

Here is the competing USA Today Editorial Board position titled, “Tax online shopping like all others.”

I thought you might enjoy reading both points of view about this debate. It is a good assessment of two competing viewpoints on what the Supreme Court should do.

The Supreme Court ruling is expected in late June. I was actually encouraged by some of the questions posed to the petitioners, so it really is up in the air about what direction they will take.  However, regardless of how the Court decides this issue, the very real problems of compliance and liability will not be solved with a court case. The venue for those discussions continues to be the U.S. Congress. We will report back as conditions merit. The bottom line is that this issue will not be ultimately resolved without all interested parties looking for common-ground solution and compromise.

About the Author

Bill McClellan serves as ERA's Vice President of Government Affairs. Prior to joining the association, Bill worked as a lobbyist at the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association, covering the state legislature and Georgia's congressional delegation. Before working for the GADA, Bill managed political campaigns at both the congressional and state constitutional levels.

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