The U.S. Supreme Court says states can force online retailers to collect
sales tax.
The 5-4 ruling is a win for states, who said they were losing out on billions of dollars annually under two decades-old Supreme Court decisions.
The high court ruled Thursday to overturn those decisions. Those cases said that if a business was shipping a product to a state where it didn’t have a physical presence, the business didn’t have to collect the state’s sales tax.
The ruling follows a South Dakota law passed in 2016 which directly challenged the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision. The law required large out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax and remit it to the state.
Governor Dennis Daugaard says its a great day for South Dakota.
The Governor calls it “a win for fairness…”
The ruling is also a win for large retailers, who argued the physical presence rule was unfair. Nationwide retailers — Target, Walmart and others — generally collect sales tax from their online customers because they have stores in every state.
(Brookings Radio)