It never made sense to exempt online retailers from collecting sales tax. It’s ridiculous now when so many states are in deep fiscal trouble. Illinois estimates that it is losing more than $150 million a year in uncollected taxes; California is losing an estimated $300 million a year. That would cover more than half the planned cuts for the University of California system.
It’s good news that states are using new legal tools to force Internet retailers to do what every other retailer must do. It is disappointing to see Amazon.com fight back.
Amazon and other Web retailers are shielded by a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that retailers could be required to collect sales tax only in states where they had some physical presence. Amazon has kept itself off the hook in several states using warehouses owned by subsidiaries.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Amazon v. the States - NYTimes.com
