From WLTX.com
Jennifer Bellamy (@JBellamyWLTX)

Columbia, SC (WLTX) — A huge benefit for online shopping could soon be a thing of the past.

Congress is looking at the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would clear the way for states to collect sales taxes for purchases made online, and one South Carolina representative wants the state to be ready if it happens.

“We’re missing out on $70 million right now. That means that there are South Carolinians who are buying merchandise over the internet who are required currently to report that with the department of revenue and they’re not doing that at the present time,” said Richland County Representative Nathan Ballentine.

He says that money can serve the state best by fixing roads and bridges.

“That’s what we need the most of, certainly we’ve got several core functions of government, but one that we’re behind in severely, severely and whether you’re a democrat or a republican, whether you’re from the upstate, midlands or low country we’d all agree, and we all do that infrastructure’s important . Not just to our citizens, but for our business and our economy,” he said.

Some of the nation’s biggest retailers support the measure, but small-business owners say it will create huge problems when it comes to accounting.

Across the country, states lost an estimated $23 billion last year in online sales taxes, and Ballentine says his bill, that has nearly 40 sponsors from both parties, can help the state.

“We’re not raising taxes, we’re not creating a new tax, we’re not putting our state in debt. We’re trying to find a way, a first step to fix our bridges and roads,” he said.

It is not clear what the U.S. House will do if the bill makes it through the senate, still Ballentine says it is important for the state to be ready if the measure goes into effect.

“I’m just simply saying hey, when and if congress does that let’s be ready South Carolina,” said Ballentine.

Ballentine’s bill is in the House Ways and Means Committee.

For more, read earlier posts on Nathan’s News:

SC needs to be ready! Improving roads without a new tax

Funding Roads without new taxes