Supporters of online sales tax legislation have been promised a vote in the Senate this year, but the timing is vague and House consideration is uncertain, The Hill reported today. To secure considerations of the online sales tax bill known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, advocates traded away one of their major bargaining chips by allowing a separate long-term ban on local Internet access taxes from going forward. “The Speaker has told me that he is going to bring up Marketplace Fairness on the House side. So we are going to vote on it before the end of the year. It is going to be the law anyway,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who opposes the bill, told reporters that he too believes Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told House colleagues that they would get an opportunity to vote on the legislation. Ryan’s office, however, said the Speaker had made no commitment nor had he set a timeline. The bill would give states more authority to tax purchases made online, even when someone in their state buys the online item from a retailer with no physical location in the state.
