Debate looms for web sales tax

A sales tax on Internet sales may be coming sooner than you think. With record state budget deficits, a new Congress looking for ways to find money in the economic downturn and greater e-commerce, the idea is likely to emerge in 2009, according to Forbes.com

"States are coming up with huge deficits and looking for places to make money," says Eric Menhart, the principal of CyberLaw, a Rockville, Md.-based law firm that concentrates on technology legal issues. "All of a sudden, Internet taxation appears a lot more viable."

Scott Peterson, executive director of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board (SSTGB), a group that oversees states' efforts to simplify and modernize sales tax issues, said lawmakers from Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia, among others, have recently contacted him about the issue. The plan is to reintroduce legislation as early as January when the new Congress takes office.

"We're hoping that the House and Senate will give this their full attention, and we can get a bill to our new president in 2009," said Maureen Riehl, vice president and government and industry relations counsel of the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association. The industry association believes that applying sales tax to all retailers is more fair to their membership than the current scenario. 

This is an issue that will keep everyone hopping, not to mention up at night.

For more on this developing story:
- check out this Forbes.com article

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