Conservatives Don’t Support the Marketplace Fairness Act

A group of “conservative” state lawmakers are meeting with legislators on the Hill to urge them to act swiftly to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act. Rep. Justin Cronin, the assistant majority leader in the South Dakota House, and South Dakota State Senator Deb Peters are meeting with lawmakers from Missouri and Texas. The group is meeting with Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) but could not get a meeting with Chairman Goodlatte.

Cronin told Politico, “When I come out here I want to bring the perspective of a conservative legislator from a very conservative state…one of the things we want to do is get people talking about again… It’s just been sitting in the House Judiciary so we want to get enough people invigorated to get something moving.”

The state lawmakers claim the MFA is a states’ rights issue, but real conservatives don’t support giving states such leviathan-like power that their ability to audit extends into 49 other states. States have the authority to govern only within their own borders.

If these legislators were truly conservative, they wouldn’t support giving states like California and New York the power to collect taxes from citizens of other states and to audit businesses outside their own borders. The essence of conservatism is limited government. When states have the power to turn businesses with no physical nexus inside their borders into their personal tax collectors even though they are owned by citizens of other states, the government’s powers are almost limitless and individual state sovereignty is in jeopardy.

Our government is founded on the idea that the only elected officials you should be regulated by are the ones you had the opportunity to vote for. Any true conservative would see the Marketplace Fairness Act for what it really is: regulation without representation.