“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to tackle the long-standing question of whether Internet retailers like Amazon.com Inc should be required to collect sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence,” Lawrence Hurley and Patrick Temple-West report for Reuters.
“In a case brought by Amazon and Overstock.com Inc, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a New York state law that requires online retailers to collect taxes is valid under the U.S. Constitution,” Hurley and Temple-West report. “Because the court declined to hear the case, the retailers’ challenge to the law has failed.”
“The U.S. government has no national sales tax and Congress has not moved ahead with proposed legislation that would give all states the power to enforce their sales tax laws on Internet retailers. For years, Congress has debated legislation to grant states the power to tax online purchases. In May, the Senate approved a bill, but it has stalled in the House of Representatives,” Hurley and Temple-West report. “Amazon supports federal legislation for nationwide state sales tax enforcement, but other online retailers, including eBay Inc and Overstock, have fought it.”
Read more in the full article here.