Congratulations are in order for the U.S. Senate -- it finally passed a budget, although it did so around 5 a.m. Saturday -- an hour when sensible people were in bed.
The 50-49 vote doesn't mean much, other than putting the Senate on record in favor of including nearly $1 trillion in additional revenue in the ongoing debate over how to stabilize the national debt. But there were some winners and losers in the vote-a-rama the Senate held on 600 amendments.
I've already noted one winner -- the Senate voted to repeal health care reform's excise tax on medical devices. Here are four other winners:
Internet sales taxes
By a 75-24 vote, the Senate passed an amendment that would allow states to collect sales taxes on online purchases made by their residents from web sites based in other states. Like other budget amendments, this vote was only symbolic, but it showed wide support for this measure, despite opposition from eBay and anti-tax groups.
Retailers strongly supported the Marketplace Fairness Act, contending it would level the playing field between bricks-and-mortar retailers and online sellers.
“The overwhelming bipartisan vote in the Senate is proof-positive that the federal government’s special treatment of online-only retailers will soon be a thing of the past," said Sandy Kennedy, president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
States, hungry for additional revenue, also were pleased by the vote. The National Governors Association contended the vote showed that the bill's "time has come."
Not so fast, said eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) lobbyist Brian Bieron. The fact that retailers lobbied so hard for a nonbinding budget amendment shows the Marketplace Fairness Act is "not ready for prime time," he said.
"The current bill would force small business owners who sell online to become tax collectors for every state across America, threatening them with audits and litigation by tax collectors from states that are thousands of miles away from where they live, work and create jobs," Bieron said.
The legislation exempts online retailers with less than $1 million in out-of-state sales from the tax collection requirement, but eBay contends that exemption isn't large enough.
Anti-tax activists, including Grover Norquist, also oppose the bill. That's a big hurdle to clear for the legislation in the Republican-controlled House. Besides posing too much of a burden on online retailers, the bill also threatens taxpayers with "erosion of the constitution's 'physical presence' standard that shields citizens from unaccountable out-of-state tax collectors" and could diminish "competition among states to keep their taxes moderate," said Pete Sepp, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union.
Keystone XL pipeline
The Senate voted 62-37 in favor of an amendment asking President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Sixteen Democrats voted for this amendment, giving the pipeline a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for the first time. This puts more pressure on the president to approve this project, which would bring crude oil from Canada's tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
The vote "is reflective of the vast majority of Americans who understand that Keystone will create jobs and much-needed revenue while helping America become less reliant on overseas energy," said Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Environmentalists, however, took solace in the fact that this vote wasn't binding.
The "meaningless vote" gives "us more months to convince the president not to sign off on this boondoggle," said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, a group that contends the pipeline would make climate change worse.
Read the full article at New York Business Journal