Stop "Streamlined Sales Tax" - call you Congressman today

Windward Instruments, owner and operator of BellClocks.com - is asking for your help.

PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND URGE THEM TO OPPOSE STREAMLINED SALES TAX - AND PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO SHOP ONLINE.

Locate your Congressman HERE.

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There is a quiet movement in Congress (both House and Senate) calling for a new "streamlined sales tax". Simply put, if enacted this would require online retailers to collect sales tax on every online sale even if you purchase from a business outside your state.

There is nothing streamlined about this tax. There are currently over 7,000 tax districts in the United States. The current "streamlined" portion is nothing more than a spreadsheet which lists the districts, their rates, and remittance dates and procedures. This tax would force every retailer selling products online to charge sales tax on every sale - regardless of where the business or cutomer are located - track and account for these taxes - and remit them to a taxing authority.

Many small and independent businesses - those the President and every elected official claims to support - simply don't have the ability to perform this function from the standpoint of the time and labor required, accounting, software, etc. It would put many of these businesses out of business and create yet more job losses to our economy.

This tax has been out there for a few years now, with very little support in Congress. Now, with the current orgy of spending in Washington, many members of Congress are supporting this move as a way to allow States to collect more tax without putting them in a position to raise Federal taxes.

This tax is being pushed hard by many Governors, and lobbied by mega retailers such as WalMart and others, who are buying Congressional support to pass a tax to eliminate small and independent retail competitors.

Many online shoppers purchase online for several reasons. Lower prices, unique items not found in local stores, and no sales tax to name a few. If Congress passes Streamlined sales tax, shoppers would lose the selection, ability to purchase products for less, savings in sales tax.

More importantly, we believe that many unique items (such as many of the products we carry) might disappear online altogether.

Small and independent businesses support and embrace unique and specialized items. Mega retailers are looking for products with only mass appeal - to sell massive numbers of the products to support huge bottom line numbers. Many of the unique products currently available online would not be available at these mega retailers, because they appeal to a small or specialized customer base and will not sell millions of "units".

Think about it - when is the last time you saw a ship's bell clock at WalMart?

Do you believe you should have to pay sales tax for online purchases made outside your state?

PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND URGE THEM TO OPPOSE STREAMLINED SALES TAX - AND PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO SHOP ONLINE.

Locate your Congressman HERE.