South Dakota Chamber head Dave Owen says the Senate Monday night approving legislation allowing states to force online retailers to collect sales taxes is a step in the right direction…
The bill faces uncertainty in the house where some Republican members opposed to the Market Place Fairness Act see the measure as a new tax…
Owen says the only reason out-of-state companies haven’t had to collect the sales tax is a 1992 Supreme Court decision that was based on the old Quill Office Supply catalog. That ruling said collecting the tax from companies with no in-state presence was so complicated that it was a difficult burden to ask any business to know all of the rules and definitions. However, if the Market Place Fairness Act fails in the house, Owen says there’s still another way it can become law…
House leaders haven’t said whether the legislation will come to a vote, however it’s nearly certain it will end up in the House Judiciary Committee first. The senate voted 69-27. Senators Tim Johnson and John Thune of South Dakota voted in support of the act.