1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the President, Congress, and the members 
  1.3             of the Minnesota Congressional Delegation to sponsor 
  1.4             and support the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act. 
  1.5      
  1.6      WHEREAS, the 1967 Bellas Hess and the 1992 Quill United 
  1.7   States Supreme Court decisions denied states the authority to 
  1.8   require the collection of sales and use taxes by out-of-state 
  1.9   sellers that have no physical presence in the taxing state; and 
  1.10     WHEREAS, the combined weight of the inability to collect 
  1.11  sales and use taxes on remote sales through traditional carriers 
  1.12  and the tax erosion due to electronic commerce threatens the 
  1.13  future viability of the sales tax as a stable revenue source for 
  1.14  state and local governments; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, the Center for Business and Economic Research at 
  1.16  the University of Tennessee has estimated that states lost as 
  1.17  much as $16,100,000,000 in 2003 because they were not able to 
  1.18  collect taxes on remote sales, including sales on the Internet, 
  1.19  and the center estimates that by 2006 this revenue loss to 
  1.20  states will climb to $26,500,000,000, and by 2008 it will be 
  1.21  $33,800,000,000; and 
  1.22     WHEREAS, the same study estimated that Minnesota lost as 
  1.23  much as $345,000,000 in 2003 because of this inability to 
  1.24  require remote sellers to collect our state's sales and use 
  1.25  taxes, and the study further estimates that by 2006 this revenue 
  2.1   loss will climb to $718,000,000; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, since 1999, state legislators, governors, local 
  2.3   elected officials, state tax administrators, and representatives 
  2.4   of the private sector have worked to develop a Streamlined Sales 
  2.5   and Use Tax Collection System for the 21st century; and 
  2.6      WHEREAS, between 2001 and 2004, Minnesota and 39 other 
  2.7   states enacted legislation expressing the intent of the state to 
  2.8   simplify the state's sales and use tax collection system and to 
  2.9   participate in multistate discussions to finalize and ratify an 
  2.10  interstate agreement to streamline collection of the states' 
  2.11  sales and use taxes; and 
  2.12     WHEREAS, on November 12, 2002, delegates from Minnesota and 
  2.13  the other states unanimously ratified the Streamlined Sales and 
  2.14  Use Tax Agreement, which substantially simplifies state and 
  2.15  local sales tax systems, removes the burdens to interstate 
  2.16  commerce that were of concern to the United States Supreme 
  2.17  Court, and protects state sovereignty; and 
  2.18     WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement 
  2.19  provides the states with a blueprint to create a simplified and 
  2.20  more uniform sales and use tax collection system that when 
  2.21  implemented allows justification for Congress to overturn the 
  2.22  Bellas Hess and Quill decisions; and 
  2.23     WHEREAS, Minnesota enacted legislation in 2001 to bring 
  2.24  this states's sales and use tax statutes into compliance with 
  2.25  the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement; and 
  2.26     WHEREAS, by July 1, 2004, 21 states, Arkansas, Indiana, 
  2.27  Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Nebraska, 
  2.28  North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, 
  2.29  Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and 
  2.30  Wyoming, representing over 35 percent of the total population of 
  2.31  the United States enacted legislation to bring their states' 
  2.32  sales and use tax statutes into compliance with the Agreement; 
  2.33  and 
  2.34     WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Minnesota and our 
  2.35  colleagues in the other states have shown the resolve to 
  2.36  acknowledge the complexities of the current sales and use tax 
  3.1   collection system, have worked with the business community to 
  3.2   formulate a truly simplified and streamlined collection system 
  3.3   and have shown the political will to enact the necessary changes 
  3.4   to make the streamlined collection system the law; and 
  3.5      WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act will be 
  3.6   introduced in Congress to grant those states that comply with 
  3.7   the Agreement the authority to require all sellers, regardless 
  3.8   of nexus, to collect those states' sales and use taxes; and 
  3.9      WHEREAS, supporting the states' effort to comply with the 
  3.10  Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and the federal 
  3.11  legislation granting states collection authority are such 
  3.12  companies and organizations as:  American Booksellers 
  3.13  Association; American Federation of Teachers; American 
  3.14  Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; American 
  3.15  Jewelers Association; Circuit City Stores, Inc.; Department for 
  3.16  Professional Employees; AFL-CIO; Electronic Commerce 
  3.17  Association; Gateway Companies, Inc.; Home Depot; International 
  3.18  Association of Firefighters; International Council of Shopping 
  3.19  Centers; K-Mart Corporation; Lowe's Companies; National 
  3.20  Association of College Stores; National Association of 
  3.21  Convenience Stores; National Association of Industrial and 
  3.22  Office Properties; National Association of Realtors; National 
  3.23  Community Pharmacists Association; National Education 
  3.24  Association; National Retail Federation; North America Retail 
  3.25  Dealers Association; PETSMART, Inc.; RadioShack Corporation; 
  3.26  Service Employees International Union; ShopKo; Staples, Inc.; 
  3.27  Target, Inc.; the Gap, Inc.; The Real Estate Roundtable; The 
  3.28  Rouse Company; United Food and Commercial Workers International 
  3.29  Union; VerticalNet, Inc.; Wal-Mart; and Westfield America, Inc.; 
  3.30  and 
  3.31     WHEREAS, until Congress and the President enact the 
  3.32  Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act, participation by remote 
  3.33  sellers is only voluntary and thus, states are unlikely to close 
  3.34  the revenue gap between what is owed on remote transactions and 
  3.35  what is collected; and 
  3.36     WHEREAS, Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, House Majority 
  4.1   Whip, has termed this federal legislation as "fiscal relief for 
  4.2   the states that does not cost the federal government a single 
  4.3   cent" and ensures the viability of the sales and use tax as a 
  4.4   state revenue source; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  4.5      BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  4.6   that it calls upon the members of our congressional delegation 
  4.7   to join as cosponsors of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Act 
  4.8   and to support its swift adoption by the Congress of the United 
  4.9   States. 
  4.10     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of 
  4.11  Minnesota urges President George W. Bush to sign the Streamlined 
  4.12  Sales and Use Tax Act into law, upon its passage by Congress. 
  4.13     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  4.14  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  4.15  memorial and transmit them to President George W. Bush, the 
  4.16  President and Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker 
  4.17  and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and 
  4.18  Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.