Sen Durbin: Online sales tax 'up to the House'

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a backer of the Marketplace Fairness Act, said the House would determine whether online sales tax legislation would proceed this year, all but ensuring that the measure wouldn’t become law in 2014.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) already vowed to block the online bill from consideration in the House, crippling supporters' chances of finally getting the measure to President Obama’s desk. Backers of the measure have been seeking to pair the Marketplace Fairness Act with a less controversial bill that would extend a moratorium on taxes on Internet access. That law, known as the Internet Tax Freedom Act, expires on Dec. 11, along with the current stopgap government funding bill. But Sen Durbin said that it made little sense for the Senate to try to force the House’s hand by bringing the online sales tax bill back to the floor, after it overwhelmingly passed the Senate in May 2013. Still, Durbin also had some choice words for Speaker Boehner in the process.

[Nov 20]