Some States Push To Collect Sales Tax From Internet Stores

For years, states and online retailers have bickered over whether the retailers should -- and, if so, could -- collect local and state sales taxes on purchases made over the Internet. The states have said they should and could. The retailers have argued that the complexity of different tax rates and categories among states and localities made it very difficult to do so. Hoping to put an end to that argument, 18 states tomorrow will implement a long-planned move to remove obstacles that the retailers have cited. Architects of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project are devising a computer program that tracks the tax rates of the 18 states and their localities and automatically adds that rate to the bill of every online purchase. The states will also entice online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes by offering amnesty on taxes the retailers haven't collected in the years since the Internet retail boom began. The states that have signed on are Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia. Five more -- Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming -- are in the process of finalizing the requirements needed to join, while Washington, Texas and Nevada are in earlier stages. Consumers won't immediately feel the impact of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. Retailers have a year to sign up for the amnesty and agree to begin collecting state and local taxes.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Robert Guy Matthews robertguy.matthews@wsj.com]
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