Online sales tax debate reignited in the House

Republican lawmakers reignited the online sales tax debate, rolling out a new bill that they said could assuage previous Republican concerns about the issue. The bill, from House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and a group of 15 other House members, would give states greater latitude to charge sales taxes on online purchases from out-of-state customers. But supporters say it also improves upon previous online sales tax legislation, called the Marketplace Fairness Act, that made it through the Senate last Congress before getting stonewalled by House GOP leaders.

“We think this is a viable solution. What we’re trying to do is empower states to make these types of decisions,” Chairman Chaffetz said, alongside Rep Steve Womack (R-AR), an original co-sponsor of the measure. Reps Chaffetz and Womack both stressed that their bill would finally bring parity to the issue of taxing online sales. The Supreme Court has said that states can only collect sales taxes from companies that have a physical location within their borders.