Are you an online tax cheat?

[Commentary] Some California Democrats are trying again to get Internet retailers such as Amazon to tack state sales taxes onto the price of online purchases, and some California Republicans are again warning that collecting these longstanding and lawful taxes will have disastrous consequences. We'd like to see the millions -- perhaps billions -- of dollars in sales and use taxes owed by sometimes unaware California shoppers get collected, and we're tired of arguments by supposed law-and-order conservatives against collecting lawfully owed taxes.

At issue is proposed legislation by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley and other East Bay communities. Skinner's bill, much like a 2009 predecessor vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would require online retailers to collect taxes and remit them to the state in many cases just like their brick-and-mortar competitors do. And why not? Contrary to popular lore, retail sales of books, shoes, clothing or anything else do not magically become tax-free just because the transaction takes place on a laptop or a smart phone. If you have to pay 9.75% in sales tax when you buy a pair of designer shoes at Discount Shoe Warehouse on Ventura Boulevard, you have to pay the same 9.75% when you buy the same shoes online from Nevada-based (and Amazon-owned) Zappos. It's only fair, and more to the point, it's the law.