WWE’s Kane Slams Senator Lamar Alexander’s Internet Sales Tax Plan

Kane AKA Glenn Jacobs is one of the top wrestlers in the WWE. He has held many championship belts and is currently a WWE Tag Team Champion alongside Daniel Bryan in Team Hell No. Towering over most people at his listed height of nearly seven feet tall, Kane is known for choke-slamming opponents in the ring. However, some are unaware that he is also an intellectual heavyweight in the growing liberty movement. He supported Ron Paul for president and has given talks at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and the Free State Project’s New Hampshire Liberty Forum.

This week, he took a break from main event beat-downs to issue a written challenge to Senator Lamar Alexander’s internet sales tax bill, deceptively dubbed the Marketplace Fairness Act. Kane’s decision to take on Senator Lamar Alexander’s bill, just as his re-election bid begins, raises questions as to whether Kane might be considering a challenge against Lamar Alexander for his Senate seat.

The Marketplace Fairness Act Is Bad Policy

The internet is about the only functioning aspect of the economy left, after past Keynesian policy failures shackled economic growth in the US. Few regulations and taxes are relevant to web businesses, and online prices are dropping lower than those found on tags in local retail stores. The 1992 decision Quill Corp v. North Dakota banned states from applying sales taxes to online transactions by residents who are purchasing items from stores in other states.

Establishment Senator Lamar Alexander argued that Tennessee is missing out on sales tax revenue as more and more Tennesseans turn to online shopping as a way to avoid rising prices in retail stores. He claims that this is not fair to Tennessee. It’s unclear as to whether the Marketplace Fairness Act would cause some businesses to have to pay sales taxes in more than one state on each transaction, but there would definitely be confusion as to which state can lay the claim if current law were changed.

Glenn Jacobs responded to Alexander’s argument by pointing out that Tennessee could instead get rid of its own sales tax as a way to even the score for local businesses. Since current law requires online retailers to pay sales taxes in the state in which operations are carried out, states with lower sales taxes invite online retailers to start businesses and create jobs. Jacobs’ tax slashing approach to sales tax fairness is a pro-growth alternative to Senator Lamar Alexander’s commerce-suffocating internet sales tax.

Is Glenn Jacobs Considering a Run for US Senate Against Lamar Alexander?

As a native Tennessean, I’m about to let you in on a bit of local gossip. When Glenn Jacobs isn’t body-slamming opponents as the WWE wrestler Kane, he resides in East Tennessee. Jacobs is widely considered by Tennessee liberty activists to be the most prominently known individual in the local liberty movement. If he were to run for state-wide office, he would already be a household name in a state where wrestling is very popular.

He’s intelligent and well-spoken. Imagine what he could do in a debate. His imposing size alone might intimidate opponents and keep the debate civil. There is a realistic chance that, if he were to run, Glenn Jacobs could defeat Senator Lamar Alexander.

Tennessee activists encourage him to run for office all the time, and, so far, he has declined to do so. However, one wonders if his choice to challenge Lamar Alexander’s bill at this particular moment might signify that he is considering a Senate run.

As a Tennessean, I personally hope so.

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