Supreme Court debates whether to permit states to tax all online sales
The Supreme Court is considering an instance that can force consumers to start out paying sales tax on several of the online purchases. During arguments in South Dakota vs. Wayfair Tuesday, the justices debated whether online retailers must collect sales tax on purchases made even in states where they don't possess a " physical presence, " say as an office, warehouse or distribution facility. The solution to that question could carry quite a hefty price tag. www.pbs.org Last year, states could afford collected around $13. 4 billion in additional online sales taxes, based on the General Accountability Office. That revenue source is becoming increasingly critical to state governments as citizens do more of the shopping over the web — it is only 9% of retail sales currently, but growing steadily. Most of the largest online retailers, for example Amazon, already pay sales taxes because they've enough of the physical presence in many states through their network
