(Harrisburg, PA) – A statewide poll released by the National Taxpayers Union and the R Street Institute today finds that Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly oppose out-of-state tax collection on Pennsylvania’s online merchants.
In the survey of likely 2014 general election voters in Pennsylvania, a strong majority (62 percent-31 percent) expressed overwhelming opposition to legislation like the “Marketplace Fairness Act,” which “would allow tax enforcement agents from one state to collect taxes from online retailers based in a different state.” They also indicated their belief that the Internet should remain as free from regulation and taxation as possible (by a 45-point margin).
“In this poll, Pennsylvanians say loud and clear that they believe that the Internet doesn’t exist to fund other states, but rather to improve their lives,” said Andrew Moylan, Executive Director of the R Street Institute. “It’s readily apparent that Pennsylvania voters have strong misgivings about Internet sales tax proposals pending before Congress, and are equally strong in their support for an Internet free from government regulation.”
It should be no surprise that support for minimizing government’s burden on the n Internet resonates among Pennsylvania voters of all affiliations, including independents,” said Pete Sepp, Executive Vice President of National Taxpayers Union. “Sensible Pennsylvanians are rightfully concerned that this issue is about much more than taxes on e-commerce … it’s about expanding the tax collection and auditing powers of revenue departments outside the state, at the expense of home-grown Pennsylvania businesses.”
A statewide survey of 400 likely voters in Pennsylvania was conducted June 4-5, 2014 by live telephone interviewing. Thirty percent of the interviews were conducted using a cell phone sample. The margin of error is ±4.9 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.
The R Street Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy research organization (“think tank”). Its mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government.
National Taxpayers Union (NTU), “The Voice of America’s Taxpayers,” was founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, limited government, and economic freedom at all levels. The citizen group has 362,000 members nationwide and over 17,000 members in Pennsylvania.