Alabama governor gets behind online sales-tax push

Gov. Robert Bentley (R-AL) has urged lawmakers from his state to support online sales tax legislation, adding to the growing roster of GOP officials who are on board with the idea.

He told Alabama’s two senators and seven House members the online sales-tax bills would improve the state’s fiscal situation, and stressed that the legislation would not create a new tax. “The bills will give Alabama the authority to collect sales taxes — as we currently do from local brick-and-mortar retailers — that are already owed from online retailers,” Gov Bentley wrote in a letter dated April 19. “Allowing us to effectively close this sales tax loophole would help both our state’s finances and our state’s small businesses.”