Can States Impose Sales Tax on Internet Commerce?

We blogged earlier on the fight in California over whether to subject Internet-based commerce to sales tax. It seems downright nutty, as a policy matter, to subject sales at bricks-and-mortar stores to sales tax, but to let Amazon sell its products without having to collect sales tax. Nowadays, does Amazon really need a competitive advantage over Mary & Joe's Five and Dime? There's an effort to get Congress to free the states to impose sales tax on Internet commerce. Meanwhile, some states have acted on their own. In Illinois, however, a Cook County judge has just held that Illinois's law is unconstitutional and preempted by the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act. Read about it here.

Comments

[tea]

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[mailing lists for marketing]

There's an effort to get Congress to free the states to impose sales tax on Internet commerce. Meanwhile, some states have acted on their own.