Catalog companies and e-commerce businesses are under attack. From state legislatures and regulators to the U.S. Congress, remote marketers find themselves in the cross-hairs of policymakers looking to increase the government’s bottom line by creating tax chaos and putting onerous new burdens on businesses small and large.

Hamilton Davison, president and executive director, American Catalog Mailers Association

From the states, it’s coming primarily as an assault on the longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent that prevents cross-border taxation and regulation, particularly as it relates to sales tax collection. At the federal level, the charge is coming in the form of some questionable tax reform proposals.

The offensive in some states, such as South Dakota, Alabama and Tennessee, comes as a direct attack on the so-called “physical presence standard” upheld in 1992 by the Supreme Court, which confirmed that a business cannot be forced to collect sales tax unless it has a physical nexus to the state. In other states, like Colorado and Louisiana, out-of-state businesses are being told they must invade their customers’ privacy by tattling to tax collectors on customer purchases. Still other states, like New York and Washington, are targeting the proliferation of internet marketplaces as ways to force small- and medium-size businesses to collect state sales tax.

Further, the U.S. Congress has emerging plans for tax reform that include a new “border adjustment tax,” or import tax. Such a tax could affect any size businesses that rely on imported goods they sell online or in catalogs. And with the decline of the U.S. paper industry in recent years, catalog companies and suppliers could get hit twice, given that there simply is not enough domestically produced paper available that comes close to what is consumed each year.

With the states and the federal government manning different fronts, businesses may feel that they are under siege and have little recourse. However, ACMA and our partners have been able to make some tremendous strides in pressing the pause button both on a federal level, as well as in a few states seeking to force sales tax regimes on remote marketers.

Our side recently won a ruling in South Dakota state court preventing implementation of its law to require retailers with as little as 200 transactions per year to collect sales tax. Our group is also bringing suit against Tennessee, and we are pushing strongly for the repeal of Colorado’s tattletale reporting law, among other actions we are contemplating.

As for the border adjustment tax on imports, Congress has not yet fully heard how such a tax would destabilize and potentially devastate small- and medium-sized retailers, so there is plenty to be done here too.

The troubled state sales tax landscape as well as the threat of a new import tax will be key topics as industry executives gather at ACMA’s 10^th Annual National Catalog Forum May 2-4 in Washington, D.C. We will discuss how we meet these challenges and look to unify the opposition as there certainly is safety in numbers even if there are still many remote marketing companies who have yet to join the fight.

Our industry doesn’t have to take this assault lying down. If we are to really stop this onslaught, more businesses need to begin lifting their voices. With that in mind, here are five ways you can start to push back:

1. Contact your member of Congress and tell them about the negative effects a new import tax would have on jobs and businesses in your district.
2. Reach out to state legislators and explain how burdensome it would be to comply with as many as 46 state auditors and over 10,000 tax jurisdictions nationwide.
3. Attend gatherings of industry executives, such as the upcoming ACMA Forum or other industry-sponsored events, to get up to date on the latest threats to your business.
4. Educate your customers about what their states are doing.
5. Contact your local newspaper editorial board or write an op-ed on the larger effect these policies will have on jobs and businesses.

There are concrete things you can do to make your voice heard. It is only with an overwhelming show of force that we will be able to protect jobs and our industry from the powers arrayed against us.