As some of you may have known, the moritorium on internet taxes by state and local governments is set to expire in about 3 weeks. A change like that could dramatically impact sales on the internet as well as of course local state tax revenues. A few senators have just filed a motion to extend the tax-free situation on internet sales for another two years though (yay). Apparently a big problem is the state tax system is just too complex (imagine that!)
Under a 1992 Supreme Court decision, states cannot require out-of-state retailers such as catalog companies to collect sales taxes unless they have a physical presence in the state.
Generally speaking, I get stuff online because it's cheaper... but you throw taxes in there and internet vendors are gonna have a much tougher time competing with prices. Then what?
Steve Gibson is the cofounder of Shacknews.com. Originally known as sCary's Quakeholio back in 1996, Steve is now President of Gearbox Publishing after selling Shacknews to GameFly in 2009.
