Today, Heritage Action and dozens of conservatives groups sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to oppose the newly introduced Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA), the newest name for the Internet sales tax. The letter says, in part,
"[T]he bill would create a decidedly "unlevel" playing field between brick-and-mortar and online sales. Brick-and-mortar sales across the country are governed by a simple rule that allows the business to collect sales tax based on its physical location, not that of the item's buyer. Under the RTPA, that convenient collection system would be denied for online sales, forcing remote retailers to ascertain their customers' place of residence, look up the appropriate rules and regulations in nearly 10,000 taxing jurisdictions across the country and then collect and remit sales tax for a distant authority with which they may have no tangible connection, subjecting themselves to as many as 46 state tax audits in the process. Imposing this unworkable collection standard on remote retail sales but not on brick-and-mortar retail sales would be unfair and result in enormous complexity and damage to interstate commerce."