Kane in Political Fight Against New Internet Tax Legislation

WWE Superstar and future Hall of Famer Kane, real name Glenn Jacobs, has been very active in the last week in a realm other than professional wrestling, the realm of politics. Jacobs has been very vocal as of late regarding the pending “Marketplace Fairness Act,” a legislation that would allow purchases made on the Internet be taxed. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling claimed that sales could not be taxed over the Internet if the purchase is made in another state, and Jacobs is fighting to keep it that way. He has been interviewed by a number of people about the subject, most recently the Johnson City Press posted an exclusive about Jacob’s political fight on Sunday, May 19th.

In the article, it is made known that Jacobs is the co-founder of the Tennessee Liberty Alliance and may even throw his hat in the ring to run for state Senator in 2016 against current seat holder Lamar Alexander.  Jacobs has even challenged Tennessee’s Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey to a debate on the Internet sales tax issue, hoping to get his voice heard on the matter on a more public scale.

“Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey claims that the Internet sales tax mandate is not a new tax,” Jacobs said in a blog he wrote on May 15 over at www.tnliberty.org. “Nor, according to Ramsey, is it an unfair tax. Ramsey is wrong on both counts. I, therefore, invite Lt. Gov. Ramsey for a policy debate on the issue of the Marketplace Fairness Act in a public forum at his convenience. States with sales tax also have a complementary tax called a ‘use tax.’ You are supposed to pay a use tax on a product if you buy the good without paying sales tax on it. So, for instance, if you buy a product in New Hampshire, which has no sales tax, and then bring that product back to Tennessee to use or consume, you are supposed to pay a use tax — equivalent to the sales tax rate — to the state of Tennessee. This tax, despite Ramsey’s claims to the contrary, is a new tax. Sales tax would now be embedded in the final price of any product purchased online from out of state. So perhaps he would like to explain to surprised Tennesseans that ‘this is not a new tax’ when they see the cost of their Internet purchases increase by almost 10 percent.”

The remainder of the Johnson City Press’s article covers Jacob’s thoughts on what the legislation would do to start-up Internet businesses and how America should remain the “land of opportunity.” You can read the entire article here.

 

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