Congress Considering Tax On All Internet Purchases
MIAMI (CBS4) - Shopping online in an effort to dodge sales tax may soon come to an end.
The Senate is debating a bill that would require online retailers to charge state and local sales tax on all purchases. Under current law, online shoppers are charged tax only if there is a store in the consumer's state.
Leah Daniels, owner of Hill's Kitchen, a kitchen supply store Washington DC, supports the bill.
"People come in they check them out they feel the quality of them and sometimes they'll actually tell me they will go online and buy them because they don't have to pay sales tax," said Daniels.
The bill is supported by Amazon and Walmart, as well as Democrats and Republicans, who say it's about leveling out the playing field.
According to Senator Susan Collins, "This bill is a matter of fairness."
But those against the bill, like Ebay, insist that the law would actually create new taxes and place a burden on businesses.
The National Retail Federation believes it's just a matter of the law catching up with the growth of eCommerce.
Retailers have been looking for a solution to this problem for ten or 15 years. States claim they lost out on 23 billion dollars in revenue last year because they couldn't tax internet sales.
If the bill is passed, businesses that earn less than $1 million from out of state sales would be exempt.
