Norquist presses Senate sponsor on online sales tax

The anti-tax activist Grover Norquist is expanding his criticism of a proposed online sales tax measure, raising a slew of issues with a key sponsor of the bill. Norquist, the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, is pressing Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) over whether the Marketplace Fairness Act would make businesses more vulnerable to out-of-state audits, and why the bill would count tribal lands as states.

Norquist also asks whether bill could have a negative impact on financial transactions, an idea that has also worried Wall Street groups. Norquist and ATR have suggested that the bill would raise taxes without expressly saying that lawmakers backing the measure would run afoul of the anti-tax pledge administered by ATR. Other conservative groups, like Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity, also oppose the bill, as does the online retailer eBay.