Hassan Highlights Impact of Wayfair Decision During U.S. Senate Hearing in Concord on Impact of Online Sales Tax Collection Requirement on NH Small Businesses

(Washington, DC) – Today, Senator Maggie Hassan highlighted the impact of the backwards Supreme Court Wayfair decision on small businesses during a field hearing on the internet sales tax collection requirement in Concord. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, hosted the event. The recent Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. determined that states with a sales tax are now allowed to collect sales tax from out-of-state businesses, including those in states without a sales tax, such as New Hampshire. Shaheen heard from representatives from Littleton Coin, TradePort, Alpenglow Benefit Auctions and Lupine Pet about the impact of this burdensome requirement on New Hampshire businesses, which are now forced to navigate additional red tape and incur new costs to meet this obligation.

“I fought to prevent this unfair regulation from moving forward in Congress because I was concerned about the impact on our businesses here in New Hampshire. The testimony from Granite State business representatives this afternoon confirmed that concern and underscored the critical need to keep up the fight to repeal this onerous sales tax collection requirement,” said Senator Shaheen. “I’ll keep working to find a solution that provides relief to our small businesses and cuts through this unnecessary red tape.”

As a senior member of the Committee and a former small business owner, Shaheen has been a fierce opponent of the online sales tax collection requirement. Last month, Shaheen reintroduced the Online Sales Simplicity and Small Business Relief Act, which Senator Hassan cosponsored, to stop states with a sales tax from creating red tape for small businesses as a result of the Supreme Court ruling. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, Shaheen successfully led efforts in Congress to stop the Marketplace Fairness Act, which was first introduced in 2011 to impose these internet sales tax collection requirements. In addition, Shaheen worked with a bipartisan, bicameral group of members of Congress to file an amicus brief in the South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. case, in opposition to South Dakota’s argument.

“The goal of today’s field hearing was to bring awareness to the massive costs imposed on small businesses across New Hampshire as a result of the Supreme Court’s backward Wayfair decision, which requires businesses to collect sales tax for other states,” said Senator Hassan. “I will continue working with Senator Shaheen to find a bipartisan path forward to protect small businesses and provide them relief from burdensome and complicated sales tax collection requirements.”

“It was awesome that we got to have this conversation,” said Ailie Byers, President of Centennial Auctions and Alpenglow Benefit Auction Company in North Conway. “I think that the bills that Senator Shaheen has sponsored are very helpful as a first step in terms of dealing with retroactivity, dealing with standardization, dealing with an onboarding timeline, and also dealing with the compliance issues that all small businesses are facing when trying to deal with the repercussions of the Wayfair decision.”

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