Cook: Womack, Crawford And Griffin Sponsoring $12 Billion Tax Increase
by June 18, 2013 3:30 pm 196 views
“21st century version of taxation without representation.” That is how opponents of an Internet sales tax bill today described legislation that would require online retailers to collect sales taxes.
This latest broadside attack against collecting sales tax from Internet sales could cause political headaches for Congressmen Steve Womack, Rick Crawford and Tim Griffin. All are sponsors of the Marketplace Fairness Act, and their support of this legislation proves their word is not to be trusted.
According to CNN, “The so-called Marketplace Fairness Act would allow the 45 states (and the District of Columbia) that currently charge sales taxes to require large online retailers to collect tax on purchases made by their residents. The law would only apply to online sellers that have sales of at least $1 million outside of states where they have physical operations, like a store or a warehouse.”
The political problem for Womack, Crawford and Griffin is they all signed an ironclad pledge to oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes. There is no ambiguity in the pledge they signed, created by Americans for Tax Reform – they must always oppose tax increases.
But now they’re actually sponsoring a major tax increase which, according to reports, would bring in an additional $12 billion dollars a year in new tax revenue.
Read what Republic Party master Grover Norquist had to say about the bill Womack, Griffin and Crawford are sponsoring. Norquist even compared the bill to Obamacare:
“Just now, by a vote 69-27, the U.S. Senate has passed yet another tax hike. Instead of curbing spending, they have decided that raising taxes on the Internet is the best way to pay the debt. Well, they are wrong. The bill aims to enforce a sales and use tax on businesses that rely on the Internet to reach their customers…the specifics of the bill are about as long as Obamacare.”
The bottom line is Steve Womack, Rick Crawford and Tim Griffin gave their word of honor to oppose any tax increases and now they’re sponsoring a $12 billion tax hike.
No wonder Congress has just a 10% approval rating. With politicians like them breaking their word, it’s hard to trust Congress.