Some Republican lawmakers are suggesting that Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to collect sales tax from all online retailers won't be going into effect anytime soon. Although a hearing is set for the new revenue rule Dec. 14 and 15 in the House and Senate Government Operations Committees, the chairs of those panels told Tom Humphrey they aren't sold on the plan.
"All it does is get us into a lawsuit that we'll lose," said Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, chairman of the House Government Operations Committee. ...
Under procedures for proposed state rules, a rejection by the Government Operations Committees would throw a final decision on approval or rejection to a vote by the full House and Senate during the 2017 legislative session. If the committees fail to act, then the rule is deemed approved – though a bill could be filed to reject it during the regular legislative session.
Faison said he is personally inclined to oppose the rule and predicted during an interview that most other members of the joint committee share his sentiments. [Sen. Mike] Bell declined to predict an outcome, but did say he anticipates members – including himself – will "have a lot of questions on the constitutionality" of the proposal.
There is also general distaste among many members of the Legislature’s GOP supermajority – "anti-tax Republicans," as Faison calls them – for anything that could be construed as a tax increase.
