Finally, Congress is considering an internet sales tax for items purchased online called the Marketplace Fairness Act. Traditional brick and mortar businesses must be breathing a sigh of relief.
The Senate voted 74-20 to take up the legislation for debate and amendment on Monday that would require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes.
Since its widespread usage in the late 1990s, people and individuals have looked to the internet for the best prices on anything from paper to electronics.
However, our traditional businesses have been at an disadvantage because they must maintain an attractive showroom, they have also had to put up with people coming in to mine their knowledge about that television and then purchase it for a few dollars less online.
Collecting  sales tax on internet purchases will level the playing field.
Our traditional businesses have had the disadvantage of collecting sales tax, but they are also the one who buy the tickets to the cheerleaders chili feed, sponsor baseball teams, and spend their wages in the local community with home purchases and purchases at the grocery and discount store.
State governments would be required to provide software free to Internet retailers to calculate sales taxes. Online retailers with out-of-state sales of less than $1 million a year would be exempt. It won’t be easy, but there are lots of smart innovative leaders in this country who can work together to overcome the hurdles. It is estimated to bring in $22 billion to $24 billion nationwide that now goes uncollected. What a boon this would be to Kansas when we are facing huge budget deficits in the future.
States that collect no sales should not have to begin.
People today want the best price possible, and the local store may lose out simply because of the sales tax.
The time has come for an internet sales tax.
Karen La Pierre