Norquist applauds Boehner for blocking online sales tax

Grover Norquist, the anti-tax activist, heaped praise on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday for vowing to block online sales tax legislation in the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress.

{mosads}Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had said he would push to get the Marketplace Fairness Act, which gives states more freedom to tax online sales, to President Obama’s desk before the end of the year. Retail groups, among the biggest supporters of the legislation, have also intensified their lobbying efforts to get the measure enacted.

But a spokesman for Boehner, a longtime skeptic of the legislation, said Monday that the online sales tax bill “won’t move forward this year.”

“Obama says yes to taxing the Internet, Reid says yes to taxing the Internet,” Norquist, the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, said in a statement. “Speaker Boehner just said ‘hell no’ to taxing the Internet. Boehner wins. The American consumer wins.”

The Marketplace Fairness Act would allow states to tax sales made by out-of-state retailers.

Americans for Tax Reform is among the conservative groups, which also include Heritage Action, that have opposed the online sales tax bill.

Most Senate Democrats and almost half of Senate Republicans supported the bill when it passed the chamber last year.