With billions at stake, Supreme Court urged to revisit ruling shielding internet purchases from sales tax
WASHINGTON _ The last time the Supreme Court took a hard look at how to impose sales taxes on home shopping, it was the era of mail-order catalogs _ "before Amazon was even selling books out of Jeff Bezos' garage," lawyers recently told the justices.
In 1992, the high court upheld a constitutional rule that barred states from requiring mail-order sellers to collect sales taxes if the vendors had no "physical presence" in that state.
The rule was immediately seen by some as legally suspect. And with the explosion of internet sales over the decades, it costs state and local governments tens of billions of dollars in lost tax revenues.
Now lawyers for 35 states are urging the high court to overturn the physical-presence rule as outdated and unfair to them as well as to the struggling "brick and mortar" retailers who must collect sales taxes.
They have on their side a crucial ally: Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Two years ago, he said the court should re-examine the 1992 Quill Corp. v. North Dakota decision as soon as possible. The ruling was "questionable" at the time, he said, and it is "now inflicting extreme harm and unfairness on the states."
On Friday the justices will review dozens of pending appeals.
_Tribune Washington Bureau
