Governors group: Sales tax bill doesn't violate tax pledge

The National Governors Association has a message for Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform: The online sales tax bill on the Senate floor does not violate ATR’s no-tax pledge.

NGA, which backs the sales tax bill, noted that the Congressional Budget Office had ruled that the Marketplace Fairness Act had no impact on federal revenues. The group also said that the anti-tax pledge that ATR administers – and the vast majority of congressional Republicans have signed – calls on lawmakers to oppose marginal rate increases or the net reduction of tax credits and deductions. “Marketplace Fairness does neither. It is not a new tax or a tax increase,” NGA said in its statement. “It clearly does not violate the pledge. In fact, the American for Tax Reform themselves admitted to leadership of the National Governors Association that this was not a violation. To say anything else is disingenuous.”