Owens Counters Fellow Governors’ Plea
Urges Congress to Extend Internet Tax Moratorium

In a move meant to counter his fellow governors’ plea for Congressional authority to shift states’ sales and use tax collection burdens to remote businesses, Colorado Governor Bill Owens is urging Congress to extend the three-year Internet tax moratorium set to expire in October.

"Some — including most of my fellow governors — argue that the moratorium hinders local tax collection efforts and supercedes states’ rights," Owens wrote in an August 20 letter to every member of Congress. "The debate over the taxation of the Internet isn’t about feeding the already well-lined coffers of government. It’s about the fundamentally American idea that there should be no taxation without representation."

On August 8, 42 governors sent a letter to Congress urging them not to extend the moratorium, unless states are given the authority to devise a system that would permit them to shift their tax collection burden to remote merchants. Currently, a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, forbids states from imposing sales and use tax collection duties on out-of-state merchants unless they have a physical presence in the purchaser’s state.

To read a press release from Governor Bill Owens, click here.

To read the August 8 letter to Congress from the 42 state governors, click here.

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