A gaggle of House Democrats has revived the effort to bring online retail out of the shadows and authorize state governments to mandate e-commerce companies to collect sales taxes regardless of whether they have any physical operations in the state.
It’s not a new tax, but rather a shift in the imposition of collection requirements. But as a practical matter, since most people don’t report their online purchases as they’re supposed to, it would mean the end of tax-free shopping for many consumers, and Internet retailers don’t like it one bit. E-Commerce Guide takes a look.
A controversial proposal to rewrite federal tax law to include ecommerce transactions has resurfaced in Congress, sparking protests from online retailers and advocacy groups, and revisiting a long-simmering debate over how sales taxes should be collected on Internet purchases.
Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) has teamed with four Democratic co-sponsors to introduce the Main Street Fairness Act, legislation that aims to put online retailers on a par with their brick-and-mortar counterparts regarding the collection of sales taxes.