CEI Today: Sales tax bill, crony capitalism, and Chick-Fil-A

SALES TAX BILL - JESSICA MELUGIN

CEI.org: Internet Tax Bill Would Allow Taxation Without Representation

This Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on the Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 1832), a bill that would allow state governments to collect sales taxes from out-of-state retailers. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on counterpart legislation last week.

Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a study by Policy Analyst Jessica Melugin on the harmful consequences of the new tax plan proposed by the Marketplace Fairness Act. Melugin argues that the bill would decrease tax competition between jurisdictions, unduly burden both sellers and consumers, and—--perhaps most importantly--it would violate an essential tenet of American governance: no taxation without representation. > View the study at Cei.org

>Interview Jessica Melugin

 

CRONY CAPITALISM - IAIN MURRAY The Daily Mail: America must make the choice between between crony capitalism and genuine competition America appears to be at war with itself, if the Presidential campaign is anything to go by. The adverts that have saturated the airwaves over the past few weeks focus on two themes. First, President Obama’s camp has taken aim at businesses like Bain Capital for allegedly outsourcing American jobs to foreign countries. More recently, supporters of challenger Mitt Romney have pounced on a remark by the President that seemed to imply that entrepreneurs owe their success to government rather than to their own initiative. These two lines of attack reflect two separate, underlying concerns among the American people. Yet they share the same solution: a return to genuine free enterprise. >Read the full commentary at Dailymail.co.uk >Interview Iain Murray

CHICK FIL A & FIRST AMENDMENT - HANS BADER Openmarket.org: Chick-Fil-A And Free Speech: New York City Council Speaker Pressures University To Punish Restaurant For Speech New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wants to kick Chick-fil-A out of New York because its CEO said he opposed gay marriage. Government pressure on a private institution to terminate a contract with another private entity due to that entity’s speech violates the First Amendment rights of that entity. > View the legal analysis on Openmarket.org > Inteview Hans Bader

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CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.