(Alexandria, Virginia) — The 60 Plus Association, the nation’s largest conservative seniors organization and the acknowledged alternative to the liberal AARP with over 7.2 million supporters, today touted a new 42 page study published by economist Dr. Arthur Laffer which concludes that closing the sales tax loophole in internet transactions will stimulate the economy and create 1.5 million new jobs over the next 10 years.

Written with co-author Donna Arduin, the study is titled Pro Growth Tax Reform and E-Fairness.  Through exhaustive state-by-state analysis of tax policy and recent trends in economic growth, Laffer demonstrates that the inequity that exists in taxing brick and mortar sales transactions while allowing the vast majority of internet sales to go untaxed hurts the national and state economies by shrinking the overall tax base.  This inequity then results in higher state income and property taxes, which hamper economic growth, slow job creation, and burden states with additional financial obligations.

Said 60 Plus Chairman and Founder Jim Martin, “Art Laffer has produced an important work that should be read and heeded by all.  E-Fairness is an idea whose time has come, to close a major loophole in our free-market economy that produces inefficient and inequitable results that rob us all of prosperity.  E-Fairness is not liberal nor conservative, but a common sense and fundamentally fair policy that should be embraced by everyone who desires a stronger economic future for our nation.”

In anticipation of the passage of federal legislation that would help enforce the collection of online sales taxes and thus boost state revenue, Wisconsin and Ohio have already passed budgets that lower marginal tax rates, giving early validation to Laffer’s analysis.

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