This week, small business owner, Stacy Strawn of Silver Gallery in Waynesboro, Virginia, penned an op-ed expressing her opposition to the Internet sales tax proposal currently pending in Congress.  Strawn, who sells jewelry in her Main Street store and online, understands the challenges facing small business retailers all across the country.  Strawn explains that it is big retail and not small Internet enabled retailers putting Main Street stores out of business.  “ I’ve played — and will continue to play — a strong role in keeping Main Street alive in a town where big-box competitors present a daily challenge to homegrown businesses,” Strawn writes. “ I do my part to give back to the local economy and see no harm in leveraging additional channels to keep my business afloat. So I’m bewildered and frustrated with ill-conceived proposed federal legislation — ironically called The Marketplace Fairness Act — that essentially penalizes me for expanding the sale of my products to the Web.”

Silver Gallery is not the only small business that would be negatively impacted if the Marketplace Fairness Act were to pass into law.  Hundreds of thousands of Internet-enabled small businesses all across the country would be affected by the sales tax collection mandates instituted by Congress.  Not only would these businesses have to collect and remit sales taxes in thousands of jurisdictions nationwide, but it would also allow states to bring enforcement actions against a business that is not even located in their state.  This would not only create new administrative and compliance costs, but it would also subject businesses to potentially serious liability.

Proponent of this legislation have claimed that this bill will create a level playing field and promote economic activity.  However, Strawn asked the right question in her op-ed.  She wrote, “How can this legislation foster business and economic growth when it saddles us with increased compliance costs and software integration fees?”  eBay Inc. believes that Congress should find ways to protect small Internet-enabled businesses from burdensome tax policies, like the Marketpalce Fairness Act.

To read Stacy’s op-ed and learn more about how the Marketplace Fairness Act will impact small businesses, please visit The News Leader.