States rack up victories in bids to collect online sales taxes

The days of shopping online without paying sales taxes may be ending.

States are cracking down, and a nationwide system for collecting sales tax on online sales may be coming soon. Several developments in recent weeks show how quickly the landscape is changing on what has long been an important but elusive goal for state officials: collecting sales tax from online retailers. States and localities could reap as much as $11 billion a year, according to one study. Internet shoppers are already supposed to pay the money on their own but rarely do. So state officials and local retailers cheered when New York state's "Amazon tax," designed to collect taxes on purchases at Amazon and similar sites, survived a challenge last month in the state's highest court. It was a significant victory, especially after courts struck down similar laws in Colorado, Illinois and North Carolina.