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As states look at ways to increase revenues, keep education funded, repair highways and interstates and provide services for the elderly, we don’t understand why they don’t turn to the obvious.
The Internet.
Companies with goods for sale online have enjoyed remarkable growth in recent years. Main Street retailers complain that some of this success is due to e-commerce transactions that are cheaper because they exclude state and local sales taxes.
State and local governments realize they are losing billions of dollars in sales tax revenue to the burgeoning e-commerce market.
But we also understand why a state-by-state online sales tax law would probably be ineffective. Internet users will just keep browsing until they find a vendor in the right state.
Federal legislation is going to be necessary to reverse a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision that protects online businesses from collecting sales taxes unless they have a physical presence, such as a store, in sales tax states.
In November of 2011, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt joined a bipartisan group of nine colleagues in introducing a bill called the “Marketplace Fairness Act.”
It proposes a new, simplified tax system that states could use to collect sales taxes from online retailers and out-of-state businesses.
This piece of legislation counters the argument from e-commerce behemoths such as Amazon, Overstock and eBay. These companies contend it is nearly impossible for national online retailers to collect and remit sales taxes in the 45 states that impose them because of the myriad rates, regulations and exemptions.
Blunt steers away from the idea that this would impose a new tax — although it would. He said he supports the legislation because it’s the fair thing to do.
“This is simply a fairness issue to give states a chance to collect sales tax they are already owed in the way that works best for them, if they choose to do so.”
Brick and mortar businesses have to figure out how to make a living and collect a sales tax.
Why shouldn’t Internet businesses do the same?
Opinion
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