(Via Slashdot) Forbes offers this cheerful reminder just as several of us are turning to the net to finish up our holiday shopping — that the days of sales-tax-free shopping online may be numbered:
[A]s the Supreme Court itself noted, there’s nothing to stop Congress from authorizing states to require collection by out-of-state sellers. Nothing in the Constitution, that is. Politics are another matter.
Last year, Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., introduced similar bills that would require online and catalog merchants (or at least bigger ones) to collect sales taxes for any states that met standards set by the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA). The Enzi-Dorgan proposal stood no chance with taxophobic Republicans in control of the House.
Next year, with Democrats in charge? “The stars are lined up better,” says Harley Duncan, executive director of the Federation of Tax Administrators, which represents state tax officials.
Of course, I would be remiss of my Scrooge-like duties if I failed to point out that many online purchases are subject to use tax, at least in some states. That is, if you don’t pay sales tax on a purchase you make out-of-state for use in your home state, you are supposed to remit use tax back to your state.