America’s small businesses are the engine of our economy and our nation’s greatest source of ingenuity and job creation. Unfortunately for millions of out-of-work Americans, though, politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington are threatening to impose yet another onerous regulation on our country’s job creators.

Currently, businesses only have to collect sales taxes for purchases made in a state where they have a physical presence. But the so-called “Marketplace Fairness Act,” which should be named the National Internet Tax Mandate, would force businesses to collect sales taxes for each online purchase regardless if they are actually located in that state.

The compliance costs alone on this bill are cause for alarm. Every business that conducts online sales will have to figure out how much sales tax to charge their customers, a task that becomes much more complex when factoring in the hundreds of different local sales taxes. It is unfortunate that big businesses such as Amazon.com and Wal-Mart, who were born and raised in the free market and now thrive because of it, have turned to DC lobbyists to deny that same opportunity to young entrepreneurs hungry for their own shot at success. A fear of competition should push large businesses toward innovation, not toward using Big Government to bully their rivals out of a job. While Washington, state capitols, and large corporations win, taxpayers, consumers, and small business owners lose.

Governors from both parties are also lobbying heavily for this bill. After all, growing government is the one area where there is almost complete bipartisan agreement and action. These governors are eagerly eyeing this additional revenue not to reform government or get their budgets in order but to fund new projects. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell provides the latest example of this dependency, as his recently passed Transportation bill heavily relies on revenue generated from the enactment of the National Internet Tax Mandate.

Tax Hike Bob’s plan removes the state gas tax in favor of a percentage-based wholesale tax paid by distributors, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers. The rate will start at 3.5% but will jump to over 5% should Congress fail to pass the Internet Tax bill by the end of 2015. Once upon a time, Republicans ran for office on reducing the tax burden. Now it seems that politicians such as Bob McDonnell have become so desperate to court favor with the establishment echo chamber that they are willing to punish their constituents should the American people dare to reject higher taxes nationally.

Rather than looking to Washington to force Americans into coughing up more of their hard-earned money, governors should fight to reduce spending – which has increased dramatically in the past decade on the state level. They should also champion lowering taxes and reducing government on the federal level, as a smaller, restrained federal government would allow more money to remain in the states.

In addition to increasing the cost of doing business, this legislation will drive up prices for consumers and prevent companies from expanding and hiring more workers at a time when our unemployment rate is embarrassingly high. C4L and other like-minded groups will continue to expose the corporatism coming out of Washington, and we will hold our elected representatives accountable should they again choose to side with special interests over consumers.