States' online 'Amazon tax' fight may land in US Supreme Court: lawyers

Diverging high court rulings in New York and Illinois over 'Amazon taxes' point to a possible US Supreme Court case to settle questions about the legality of states taxing online retail sales, lawyers said.

With Congress failing to take action on the issue, courts have been intervening case-by-case in a long-running struggle between state governments and major online retailers, including Amazon, over sales tax. Different decisions in different states improve the odds that the Supreme Court will tackle these issues, said Stephen Kranz, a partner at law firm McDermott Will & Emery. "There will continue to be additional litigation at the state level exacerbating the problem," Kranz said. "That is clear and should be a factor considered by the court in deciding whether to take the New York or Illinois case."