Goodlatte to deliver online tax plan

Although Goodlatte has a plan, it is unlikely he will release legislation. | AP Photo

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte is expected to release a series of principles on Wednesday, outlining concerns and priorities for a bill that would allow online retailers to collect sales tax, several sources told POLITICO.

The principles — described during three briefings Tuesday — are expected to be broad while detailing some of the ways the Virginia Republican would like to simplify the bill that passed the Senate in May, the sources said. They also are expected to offer more details on how businesses could collect and remit sales taxes for online purchases.

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Goodlatte has expressed concerns that the Senate bill is still too burdensome for small businesses.

Briefings for Judiciary Committee staffers and trade groups focused on the issue were scheduled for Tuesday to give Goodlatte’s team a chance to detail seven points. Separate briefings were held for supporters and opponents of the issue.

(Also on POLITICO: Conservative poll: Internet tax bill unpopular)

In an interview with POLITICO on Tuesday, Goodlatte said the principles “will be released tomorrow,” but declined to give further comment.

The principles specify the burdens for online and brick-and-mortar retailers must be equal. The staff conducting the briefings said there should be no precedent for collecting taxes.

It is unlikely Goodlatte will release anything resembling legislation because broad concepts give him the ability to maneuver within the House Republican Conference to build support.

“He very much wants to build consensuses on this issue. He wants to find that sweet spot the majority of people are comfortable with,” said Jennifer Platt, a vice president of federal operations for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

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It is unclear whether Goodlatte plans to introduce new legislation or will try to work within the confines of the Senate-passed bill to address his concerns. But a supporter of the bill said his side was very “happy” with the path forward that the principles provide.

A representative from a trade organization that has long opposed the measure said that the current draft of Marketplace Fairness is “dead” and there would need to be a new draft to mirror Goodlatte’s principles.

The principles would mark the first step forward in the online sales tax battle since May when the Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act. That bill was opposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who wanted to address the issue during tax reform, and other senators from states that don’t charge a sales tax.

The issue has divided Republicans in the House, slowing progress on legislation.

(Also on POLITICO: Outside groups try to revive immigration reform)

Fault lines have emerged between Republicans like Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) who see the bill as a states’ rights measure that will help fill depleted coffers and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who wrote in a June letter that the measure is an “unprecedented” violation of state sovereignty.

Supporters, including online retailer Amazon, and opponents, backed by eBay, view on-the-fence House Republicans as vital to passing or defeating the measure. Representatives from Target, the Chamber of Commerce, Amazon and Net Choice were all present at the briefings on Tuesday.

Jason Brewer, the vice president for communications and advocacy at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which supports the online sales tax, expects an “ideological battle.”

“We were successful in the Senate because we made the case that: A) this is not a tax increase; and B) in a true free market, conservatives believe that everyone should be treated equally,” he said. “It’s a powerful argument to be made now.”

POLITICO – Congress

Goodlatte to deliver online tax plan

Goodlatte rejects "special" citizenship path

Goodlatte said the House will proceed with individual immigration bills. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

VERONA, Va. — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is rejecting the idea of giving immigrants in the U.S. illegally a special pathway to citizenship.

Republican congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia told a town hall meeting in the Shenandoah Valley on Monday that the House must chart its own course on immigration even if it never results in a bill President Barack Obama can sign. He said that he’ll do everything he can to ensure the House never takes up the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill, which includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

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Goodlatte said the House will proceed with individual immigration bills once lawmakers return to Washington in September from their summer recess, beginning with bills on interior enforcement, border security and workplace verification.

The focus of the House’s Republican majority should be on how to “reform immigration the right way to show how it should be done, even if it doesn’t go all the way through to be signed by this president. Because I have a hard time, like you do, envisioning him signing some of these things,” Goodlatte told one questioner. “It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least show the American people that we are interested in solving this very serious problem that we have in our country.”

In a scene playing out at town hall meetings across the country this August, Goodlatte faced several questions supportive of immigration legislation from activists sent by a pro-immigrant group, Virginia Organizing. Some immigration advocacy groups are pressing House Republicans to support overhauling immigration laws.

But speaking to a capacity crowd of more than 200 people at a local government building in Verona, Va., he gave no sign of altering the position he’s been articulating for months: that immigrants here illegally should not get what he terms a “special” pathway to citizenship, which is what he sees in the Senate bill.

Goodlatte has said that immigrants could get a legal status short of citizenship and from there using the existing pathways of family or employment ties to eventually obtain citizenship. And he criticized advocates for citizenship, saying they’ve been standing in the way of other reforms as they hold out for their goal.

“The folks who want to have a path to citizenship have held everything else hostage,” Goodlatte said. “Now we want to say, ‘Look we understand what you want but we think a legal status in the United States but not a special path to citizenship might be appropriate’” once steps including border security have been accomplished.

Goodlatte’s comments underscored the tough road ahead for Congress in agreeing to a compromise immigration bill, one of Obama’s top second-term priorities.

The far-reaching bill passed by the Democratic-led Senate in June includes billions for border security and new measures on legal immigration and workplace enforcement, in addition to a path to citizenship. But the GOP-controlled House has rejected that approach and plans to proceed with single-issue bills.

Even where there is overlap — such as on allowing legal status or citizenship for immigrants brought illegally to this country as youths, something Goodlatte and a number of other Republicans support — it’s not clear that will produce agreement in Congress. Democrats and the White House have already rejected a bill that deals only with immigrants brought here as kids and leaves their parents out, but Goodlatte and other House Republicans have shown little openness to dealing with the status of the parents of so-called “DREAMers” in addition to the kids themselves.

Goodlatte said he anticipated the bill he is working on dealing with the status of immigrants brought as kids would be introduced soon, but indicated there was still work to be done to determine whether enough consensus existed to move it through committee and pass it out of the House.

POLITICO – Congress

Goodlatte rejects "special" citizenship path

Goodlatte rejects "special" citizenship path

Goodlatte said the House will proceed with individual immigration bills. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

VERONA, Va. — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is rejecting the idea of giving immigrants in the U.S. illegally a special pathway to citizenship.

Republican congressman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia told a town hall meeting in the Shenandoah Valley on Monday that the House must chart its own course on immigration even if it never results in a bill President Barack Obama can sign. He said that he’ll do everything he can to ensure the House never takes up the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill, which includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Continue Reading

Goodlatte said the House will proceed with individual immigration bills once lawmakers return to Washington in September from their summer recess, beginning with bills on interior enforcement, border security and workplace verification.

The focus of the House’s Republican majority should be on how to “reform immigration the right way to show how it should be done, even if it doesn’t go all the way through to be signed by this president. Because I have a hard time, like you do, envisioning him signing some of these things,” Goodlatte told one questioner. “It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least show the American people that we are interested in solving this very serious problem that we have in our country.”

In a scene playing out at town hall meetings across the country this August, Goodlatte faced several questions supportive of immigration legislation from activists sent by a pro-immigrant group, Virginia Organizing. Some immigration advocacy groups are pressing House Republicans to support overhauling immigration laws.

But speaking to a capacity crowd of more than 200 people at a local government building in Verona, Va., he gave no sign of altering the position he’s been articulating for months: that immigrants here illegally should not get what he terms a “special” pathway to citizenship, which is what he sees in the Senate bill.

Goodlatte has said that immigrants could get a legal status short of citizenship and from there using the existing pathways of family or employment ties to eventually obtain citizenship. And he criticized advocates for citizenship, saying they’ve been standing in the way of other reforms as they hold out for their goal.

“The folks who want to have a path to citizenship have held everything else hostage,” Goodlatte said. “Now we want to say, ‘Look we understand what you want but we think a legal status in the United States but not a special path to citizenship might be appropriate’” once steps including border security have been accomplished.

Goodlatte’s comments underscored the tough road ahead for Congress in agreeing to a compromise immigration bill, one of Obama’s top second-term priorities.

The far-reaching bill passed by the Democratic-led Senate in June includes billions for border security and new measures on legal immigration and workplace enforcement, in addition to a path to citizenship. But the GOP-controlled House has rejected that approach and plans to proceed with single-issue bills.

Even where there is overlap — such as on allowing legal status or citizenship for immigrants brought illegally to this country as youths, something Goodlatte and a number of other Republicans support — it’s not clear that will produce agreement in Congress. Democrats and the White House have already rejected a bill that deals only with immigrants brought here as kids and leaves their parents out, but Goodlatte and other House Republicans have shown little openness to dealing with the status of the parents of so-called “DREAMers” in addition to the kids themselves.

Goodlatte said he anticipated the bill he is working on dealing with the status of immigrants brought as kids would be introduced soon, but indicated there was still work to be done to determine whether enough consensus existed to move it through committee and pass it out of the House.

POLITICO – Congress

Goodlatte rejects "special" citizenship path