Albany — TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy
CEOs and senior executives, today applauded the decision of Governor Andrew Cuomo
and the state legislature to strip from the state budget a measure that would have
made online shopping more expensive, chilled economic growth, and pushed innovation
and venture capital out of the state.

Over the past three weeks, TechNet and WE
R HERE ran an aggressive campaign to urge New York voters to oppose the proposal,
and thousands of voters made calls, wrote, and used social media to reach the offices
of the Governor and state legislative leaders.

“The decision to keep the marketplace sales
tax out of the final budget is a win for online shoppers, e-commerce businesses,
and future startups that decide to locate in New York State,”
said
Matthew Mincieli, Northeast Region Executive Director of TechNet. “This measure was bad policy that would have set
a dangerous precedent across the country.
Governor Cuomo, Majority Leader Flanagan, and Speaker Heastie deserve credit
for keeping an open dialogue with the technology industry and keeping New York open
for business for the innovation economy.
We understand states are looking for new revenue sources, but bad tax policy
is not the way to go about it.”

The first-in-the-nation proposal would have
made purchasing items online more expensive and established a disincentive for innovative
companies to grow in New York. This proposal
would have forced eBay, Amazon, and Etsy, as well as other online marketplaces with
offices in New York, to, in essence, become tax collectors for the state by collecting
taxes from all New York State residents who buy online regardless of where the seller
is located.

The proposal was opposed by nearly 70 percent
of New Yorkers, according to a survey conducted by Mercury on behalf of TechNet
and WE R HERE. New Yorkers from all regions
of the state and across party lines opposed this plan, regardless of whether the
person shops online often or rarely.

About TechNet
TechNet is the national, bipartisan network
of technology CEOs and senior executives that promotes the growth of the innovation
economy by advocating a targeted policy agenda at the federal and 50-state level. TechNet’s diverse membership includes dynamic
startups to the most iconic companies on the planet and represents more than two
million employees in the fields of information technology, e-commerce, advanced
energy, biotechnology, venture capital, and finance. TechNet has offices in Washington, D.C., Silicon
Valley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Austin, Boston, Seattle, Albany, and Tallahassee.