Should individual states be allowed to tax all online purchases madeby residents of their state, even to companies with no physical presencein their state? Previously, online makes sense because they had aphysical presence in the state. Then some states were there was nophysical presence for large online retailers, like Amazon, changed therules and redefined what it meant to have a physical presence in thestate to include companies that paid anyone in the state that solicitedbusiness for an online retailer as being physically present in the stateand therefore these states simply changed the rules.

Now, pending in Congress since 2013 is the Market Place Fairness Actwhich would make it a federal law allowing all states to collect salestax from online state transactions. This law is still pending and inits third version.

Including state, local, county, municipal, etc. there areapproximately 9,600 taxing jurisdictions. The online retailerOverstock. com spent over $1.3 million to add just one state to itssales tax collection system.

Is the Market Place Fairness Act a good idea? Do you think it willhurt online ups that are online because they cannot afford a brick andmortar store? Is this just a money grab by state and localjurisdictions? Will it influence your online shopping?