Shopping Center Industry Applauds The Adoption Of Marketplace Fairness Amendment In The Senate

Momentum Builds for Passage of Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) today applauded the adoption of an amendment to the fiscal year 2014 Senate Budget Resolution. The amendment gives states the authority – if they so choose – to require online sellers to collect sales taxes just like brick-and-mortar retailers already do. It also provides a common-sense, bipartisan solution to a decades-old problem that has impaired free market principles and distorted the marketplace. 

"The shopping center industry would like to thank Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) for their unwavering leadership and for working tirelessly to move long-awaited sales tax fairness legislation," said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO of ICSC. "Today's vote clearly shows that there are enough votes in the Senate to pass S. 336, the Marketplace Fairness Act," added Kercheval.

75 Senators from both parties voted for the amendment, laying the groundwork for a vote on S. 336, the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, later this year. The vote also sends a strong signal to Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate that momentum for e-fairness legislation has been building since the end of last Congress.

"Government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in the marketplace, and our free market system should not be burdened by an outdated, overly complicated and blatantly unfair tax policy," said Betsy Laird, senior vice president of global public policy of ICSC. "This is a matter of basic economic fairness in the marketplace," added Laird.

ICSC has promoted sales tax fairness for over a decade, advocating that a "sale is a sale" regardless of whether the purchase takes place on Main Street, at shopping centers, over the Internet or with a smart phone. For more information about sales tax fairness and how the current sales tax system is unable to support the 21^st century retail marketplace please visit www.21stcenturyretail.org.

About ICSC
Founded in 1957, ICSC is the premier global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 58,000 members in over 90 countries include shopping center owners, retailers, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, and brokers as well as academics and public officials. As the global industry trade association, ICSC links with more than 25 national and regional shopping center councils throughout the world. For more information, visit www.icsc.org.

SOURCE International Council of Shopping Centers