<div class="xtend"><a id="pl.1.1"></a><var>1.1</var>A resolution<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.2"></a><var>1.2</var>memorializing the members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation to sponsor <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.3"></a><var>1.3</var>and support the Main Street Fairness Act.<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.4"></a><var>1.4</var>WHEREAS, the 1967 <i>Bellas Hess</i> and the 1992 <i>Quill</i> Supreme Court decisions denied <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.5"></a><var>1.5</var>states the authority to require the collection of sales and use taxes by out-of-state sellers that have <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.6"></a><var>1.6</var>no physical presence in the taxing state; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.7"></a><var>1.7</var>WHEREAS, the combined weight of the inability to collect sales and use taxes on remote <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.8"></a><var>1.8</var>sales through traditional carriers and the tax erosion due to electronic commerce threatens the <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.9"></a><var>1.9</var>future viability of the sales tax as a stable revenue source for state and local governments; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.10"></a><var>1.10</var>WHEREAS, the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.11"></a><var>1.11</var>has estimated that states lost as much as $30 billion in 2008 because they were not able to collect <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.12"></a><var>1.12</var>taxes on remote sales, including sales on the Internet; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.13"></a><var>1.13</var>WHEREAS, the same study estimated that Minnesota lost as much as $456 million in 2008 <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.14"></a><var>1.14</var>because of this inability to require remote sellers to collect our state's sales and use taxes; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.15"></a><var>1.15</var>WHEREAS, since 1999, state legislators, governors, local elected officials, state tax <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.16"></a><var>1.16</var>administrators, and representatives of the private sector have worked to develop a streamlined <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.17"></a><var>1.17</var>sales and use tax collection system for the 21st century; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.18"></a><var>1.18</var>WHEREAS, between 2001 and 2004, Minnesota and 39 other states enacted legislation <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.19"></a><var>1.19</var>expressing the intent of the state to simplify the state's sales and use tax collection systems and to <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.20"></a><var>1.20</var>participate in multistate discussions to finalize and ratify an interstate agreement to streamline <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.21"></a><var>1.21</var>collection of the states' sales and use taxes; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.1"></a><var>2.1</var>WHEREAS, on November 12, 2002, state delegates unanimously ratified the Streamlined <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.2"></a><var>2.2</var>Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which substantially simplifies state and local sales tax systems, <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.3"></a><var>2.3</var>removes the burdens to interstate commerce that were of concern to the Supreme Court, and <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.4"></a><var>2.4</var>protects state sovereignty; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.5"></a><var>2.5</var>WHEREAS, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement provides the states with a <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.6"></a><var>2.6</var>blueprint to create a simplified and more uniform sales and use tax collection system that, when <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.7"></a><var>2.7</var>implemented, allows justification for Congress to overturn the <i>Bellas Hess</i> and <i>Quill</i> decisions; <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.8"></a><var>2.8</var>and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.9"></a><var>2.9</var>WHEREAS, Minnesota enacted legislation beginning in 2001 to bring this state's sales and <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.10"></a><var>2.10</var>use tax statutes into compliance with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.11"></a><var>2.11</var>WHEREAS, the Main Street Fairness Act will be introduced in the 111th Congress to grant <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.12"></a><var>2.12</var>those states that comply with the agreement the authority to require all sellers, regardless of <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.13"></a><var>2.13</var>nexus, to collect those states' sales and use taxes; NOW, THEREFORE,<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.14"></a><var>2.14</var>BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it calls upon the <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.15"></a><var>2.15</var>members of our congressional delegation to join as cosponsors of the Main Street Fairness Act <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.16"></a><var>2.16</var>(by Senator Michael Enzi of Wyoming and Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts) <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.17"></a><var>2.17</var>and to support its swift adoption by the Congress of the United States.<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.18"></a><var>2.18</var>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota urges <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.19"></a><var>2.19</var>President Barack Obama to sign the Main Street Fairness Act into law, upon its passage by the <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.20"></a><var>2.20</var>Congress.<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.21"></a><var>2.21</var>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.22"></a><var>2.22</var>directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.23"></a><var>2.23</var>States, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.24"></a><var>2.24</var>the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, the <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.25"></a><var>2.25</var>chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.26"></a><var>2.26</var>in Congress.<br />
         		
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