70 Percent of Americans Support Marketplace Fairness, Online Sales Tax

Seven in ten Americans support legislation requiring sales-tax collection at the time of purchase, according to a poll of 1,016 U.S. consumers conducted for the International Council of Shopping Centers. This represents an increase of six percentage points since the poll was taken in 2013 and eleven percentage points since it was taken in 2012.

“A significant majority of Americans support federal legislation and with precious few legislative days left in 2014 it is time for Congress to make Marketplace Fairness a reality this year,” said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO of ICSC. “Americans from all walks of life and across the political spectrum overwhelmingly agree that the long-term economic health of their communities depend on a level playing field for all businesses.”

82 percent of respondents said they think collecting sales tax from online-only vendors at the time of purchase is easier, up by four percentage points since 2013 (78 percent) and seven percentage points in 2012 (75 percent). This is the only national poll that has tracked attitudes among Americans on these two issues for three consecutive years.

In addition, 56 percent said they believe that collecting sales tax from online-only vendors at the time of purchase is fairer to local retailers. And 82 percent said they think it would be easier to collect sales tax from online-only vendors at the time of purchase. Additionally, 93 percent said local retailers are important to their community’s economic health.

“It is abundantly clear that when Americans understand their current tax liability for online purchases they overwhelmingly support federal legislation that streamlines and simplifies the sales tax collection process,” said Betsy Laird, senior vice president of Global Public Policy for ICSC.