You're correct that there's no exemption for sales/use tax just because purchases are made over the Internet. The moratorium is on on computer services like AOL. Unfortunately, states have a hard time enforcing their sales tax because its the seller who has to withhold and payover the tax, and most don't bother. Also, there's a Supreme Court case which limits states from imposing such a burden on companies who do little more then drop ship items in state. The bookend to the sales tax is the use tax, which requires the buyer to pay tax on tangible goods which it uses in state that aren't subject to sales tax. (Like if you bought a car in Oregon to avoid sales tax, you'd pay use tax when you registered it in California) From a policy perspective, I say good. I don't want Amazon, CCD Online having an advantage over my local bookstore and video shop. As long as they have to withhold, so should a retailer. It seems like if you want online speech and online copyrights to be subject to the same rules that apply to written or spoken speech and written copyrights, then consistency rquires treating internet commercial activity the same as brick and mortar activity.
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You're correct that there's no exemption for sales/use tax just because purchases are made over the Internet. The moratorium is on on computer services like AOL. Unfortunately, states have a hard time enforcing their sales tax because its the seller who has to withhold and payover the tax, and most don't bother. Also, there's a Supreme Court case which limits states from imposing such a burden on companies who do little more then drop ship items in state. The bookend to the sales tax is the use tax, which requires the buyer to pay tax on tangible goods which it uses in state that aren't subject to sales tax. (Like if you bought a car in Oregon to avoid sales tax, you'd pay use tax when you registered it in California) From a policy perspective, I say good. I don't want Amazon, CCD Online having an advantage over my local bookstore and video shop. As long as they have to withhold, so should a retailer. It seems like if you want online speech and online copyrights to be subject to the same rules that apply to written or spoken speech and written copyrights, then consistency rquires treating internet commercial activity the same as brick and mortar activity.