Declan McCullagh
CNET.com
7/2/2010
The halcyon days of tax-free Internet shopping will, if Rep. Bill Delahunt gets his way, soon be coming to an abrupt end.
Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, introduced a bill on Thursday that would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the option for many Americans to shop over the Internet without paying state sales taxes.
At the moment, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors usually aren’t required to pay sales taxes. Californians buying books from Amazon.com or cameras from Manhattan’s B&H Photo, for example, won’t be required to cough up the sales taxes that they would if shopping at a local mall…
…Co-sponsors of Delahunt’s bill, the “Main Street Fairness Act,” include Reps. Michael Capuano, John Conyers, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and Peter Welch, all Democrats. No Republican has signed on as a co-sponsor.
The final version of Delahunt’s legislation had not yet been made public on Friday, and his office did not immediately respond to queries from CNET. But it’s expected to be similar to other versions he’s introduced before.
Earlier versions were drafted in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision saying that, in general, out-of-state retailers can’t be required to collect sales taxes unless Congress changes the law. The justices noted in a 1992 case called Quill v. North Dakota: “Congress is now free to decide whether, when, and to what extent the States may burden interstate mail order concerns with a duty to collect use taxes.”…
Read the entire article at CNET.com
H/T Weasel Zippers
