After committee votes in the Utah House of Representatives and the Utah Senate, Americans for Prosperity Utah state director, Evelyn Everton, released the following statement:
“We are disappointed in both the House and Senate Revenue and Tax committees for exposing entrepreneurs in the state to an unfair tax brought by major retailers and special interests to crowd competition out of the marketplace,” said Everton. “The internet sales tax is an unconstitutional power grab by the legislature in a desperate attempt to squeeze money from hard-working Utahns. We are disappointed with the legislators on both of these committees for choosing special interests over 71% of Utahns who don’t want the legislature hurting entrepreneurs with this tax.”
HB 235 passed in the House Revenue and Tax committee by a vote of 8 to 5, while SB 182 passed in the senate committee by a vote of 4 to 0.
Americans for Prosperity Utah has been the lead opponent of this tax and it has organized its grassroots through phone calls and a letter campaign to oppose the legislature’s unconstitutional power grab in seeking to pass an internet sales tax.
To learn more about the group’s opposition to the internet sales tax, read Everton’s op-ed in Forbes:
But the simple fact is that no internet sales tax proposal should pass—no matter what it’s called or where it’s introduced. First and foremost, state bills like those under consideration in Utah are blatantly unconstitutional thanks to the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota. They infringe upon Congress’ sole right to regulate interstate commerce.READ MORE
