NEMOA | News Detail
| Send The Right Message to Congress on Tax Industry Action on Marketplace Fairness Act: How You Can Help Move Congress Toward Minimum Simplifications Dear Catalog Industry Executive: You may soon start calculating and collecting sales taxes in 10,000 different jurisdictions for customers around the country if you and other catalogers don't send a strong, clear message to Congress. As you should know by now, The Marketplace Fairness Act passed the Senate last Spring; it's now up to the House of Representatives. There’s a growing body of evidence that the Senate-passed bill is very unpopular among voters. With the House Judiciary Committee deliberating over a bill of its own (see related email), we need to take this important information to all House Members now to ensure that they pass a bill that either contains minimum simplifications our TruST coalition has been lobbying for or simply declines action altogether. We now know overturning the 1992 Quill v. North Dakota precedent will come at a political cost – just look at these recent polls: • Shoppers Vote No Internet Sales Tax • Gallup Poll: 'Americans, Especially the Young, Oppose Internet Sales Tax' • Report: 'Is Congress Listening? The Peril of Ignoring Public Opinion on The Internet Sales Tax Issue' With the House especially sensitive to public opinion, ACMA has come up with some very easy-to-follow actions to get these points across to your elected officials. Here are five different ways you can make an impact: 1. Make use of this letter template by clicking here. • Paste the letter on your own company letterhead; modify it where necessary in your business voice. • Send it to all industry colleagues in your address book. • Send it internally to your company employees and ask them to consider acting in their own direct economic self interest by joining you in letter writing; • Find effective and appropriate communication channel(s) to send it to your customers, such as your next catalog's president's letter, on your website, and/or via a special email (see below alternatives). 2. Insert an important message in your outgoing packages. • ACMA Board member Louis Giesler, president of AmeriMark Direct, spearheaded an effort with ACMA and TruST to produce a powerful postcard mailer catalogers recently began inserting in their outgoing packages, giving their customers an easy way to make their views known to Congress. • Click here to view a PDF of the card. If you'd like to become involved in this, please let us know (action@catalogmailers.org) and we'll help get cards to you to send to your customers also. • We are already getting "thank you" letters from customers who appreciate our bringing this matter to their attention. Given the polling results above, it's clear we benefit from strong public sentiment in our favor. 3. Address your customers directly on your website(s). • Some catalogers are taking the argument directly to their customers via the web. We have provided a template for you to use by clicking here. • Use this template as a guide and post your own message. • You can also use TruST's web-based grassroots feedback service by clicking here. 4. Rally behind House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte's principles. • Released on September 18th, these principles sent a clear message to both houses of Congress: that the MFA is unworkable and unfair to catalog and online businesses. • The principles, largely influenced by the work of ACMA and its TruST partners, should form the foundation of a House bill. Don't get complacent - Rep. Goodlatte still has to convince the rest of the Committee that an alternative to the Senate bill can work. Then, a bill will have to pass the full House. So review the principles and rally your House Member behind them. 5. Come to ACMA’s October 9-10 Policy Caucus/Fly-In in Washington DC. • We’re inviting executive-level officers from all catalog-interested firms to join us for this crucial series of meetings with Members of Congress. • This event is so vital that we’re not charging any registration or participation fees. We are also not restricting it to members only. • The ACMA event will give you an opportunity to meet with Members of Congress or their staffers wherever you have employees to tell your story directly. Companies operating in the districts where House Oversight & Government Reform and Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Members are located are especially needed. • Click here for more details. You can make a difference, but only if you act aggressively right now. Contact Paul Miller (pmiller@catalogmailers.org 914-669-8391) or me if you have any questions. Please bcc action@catalogmailers.org on your correspondence so we can follow up in Washington. And please let us know if you would like us to reserve you a space at our October 9-10 lobby day fly-in. Sincerely, Hamilton Davison President & Executive Director American Catalog Mailers Association www.catalogmailers.org hdavison@catalogmailers.org  ### About ACMA ACMA is a Washington-based not-for-profit organization specifically created to advocate for the unique collective interests of catalog mailers in regulatory, public and administrative matters where the shared impact transcends individual company interests. The only catalog owned and controlled trade group focused solely on the business interests of catalogers and their supply chain, ACMA participates in rulemaking and other proceedings of significance where a single collective voice increases influence and effectiveness. Membership is open to any party with direct interests in the catalog industry. More information can be found at www.catalogmailers.org. To Opt Out of ACMA Emails, click here and write UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. © 2013 American Catalog Mailers Association, Inc. You are encouraged to pass this message on to others in the catalog industry. http://truesimplification.org/ Published: 09/20/13 |