Court ruling brings fairness to internet sales

By

Opinion

June 26, 2018 - 11:00 PM

For many years, local retailers have operated with a disadvantage: They have to collect sales tax from their customers, while online competitors don’t. That means online outlets could basically offer the same thing as a local store with a 9 percent discount, due simply to government policy.

That could change now, and it ought to.

The Supreme Court this past week ruled in a case from South Dakota that states could collect sales taxes on online sales, even if the vendor did not have a physical presence in the state. That reversed a court ruling from 1992 that said the opposite, which of course had paved the way for the explosion of internet sales.

The game has changed since then. No longer tiny little startups, online retailers have used the rules of the game — as well as their own innovation, and the convenience and enormous choice of online shopping — to grow into behemoths. Amazon had $119 billion in sales last year.

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