Apparently eBay wants to spread the word that it opposes an Internet sales tax. I wrote my eCommerce Times Legal Column recently about Internet sales taxes entitled “Sales Taxes on the Internet: Is This the Year We’ll Pay?” I suspect that as a result of my Column, eBay’s PR firm sent me the following email with a list of quotes in opposition to an Internet sales tax:

eBay Opposes Legislation Imposing New Taxes and Regulatory Burdens on Small Online Businesses

Brian Bieron, Senior Director, Federal Government Relations and Global Public Policy at eBay Inc., made the following statement upon the introduction of ‘Main Street Fairness Act’ bills by Senator Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Conyers (D-MI).

"A collection of state tax commissioners have again been able to get an outdated Internet sales tax bill introduced in Congress, but we are confident that it will be rejected because it would harm small Internet retailers. Better policy is reflected by H.Res. 95 from Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) with 27 bipartisan co-sponsors, which says that Congress won’t give states ‘the authority to impose unfair tax collecting requirements on small online businesses.’

"The giant retailers jockeying for new Internet sales taxes have national store networks that they combine with their major online sales platforms, a business model they know brings some tax collection duties. Forcing small businesses to take on the same costs and tax burdens as national retail businesses is unrealistic, unfair and will unbalance the playing field between giant retailers and small business retailers on the Internet."

The heat is on, so stay tuned for a hot summer and war against the Internet sales tax.

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