Supreme Court ruling on online sales tax sets level playing field, by Alex Brill and Alan D. Viard

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair last weekempowers states to establish a level playing field for the taxation of goods sold by in-state and out-of-state sellers. The court overturned two precedents, dating back to 1967 and 1992, that imposed an artificial physical presence rule on state sales tax systems.
Under those precedents, a state could not require sellers without a physical presence in the state to collect and remit tax on sales to the state’s residents. Such sellers received an artificial advantage because states could not otherwise generally collect the taxes due on their sales.

As Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, stated in his opinion for the court, the physical presence rule was “wrong on its own terms” in 1992 and “the internet revolution has made its earlier error all the more egregious and harmful.”

EN:

http://www.aei.org/publication/supreme-court-ruling-on-online-sales-tax-sets-level-playing-field/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRSbFl6ZG1NR1U1TWpSbSIsInQiOiJrM05MTUxJK056ZEFZY3lTcDJTaEZpekVhdHZ0OFwvSzN6RVwvVHI5WUpZdzE2NG5tTWZSY1NJUXh2TEtGUlVIZ0hBSmR3UmZ5Ym93ME5jVTBJQndEblVDOWh4bWZGd3h1TFFTKzNTVzd5XC94Q0JTY0N6UmtoeXdrMlAzSUUzOVQzYiJ9