Court Upholds Online Sales Tax

Buy in a store and you pay sales tax, but no shipping.  Buy online – sometimes with free shipping – and you can avoid the sales tax…until now.  At a time of record internet sales, one big benefit to buying online could be going away.

FOX News Radio’s Chris Hoenig explains:

New York’s Court of Appeals ruling the state can collect sales tax from out-of-state online retailers, provided those sellers have “a substantial nexus” with the state.  The case affects sites like Amazon and Overstock.com, where in-state affiliate retailers can target local buyers, and could have an impact in other states reviewing similar laws.

Online sales topped $1.5 billion on Cyber Monday alone last year, and Ellen Davis with the National Retail Federation says this just levels the playing field.

(Davis) “Every retailer should be playing by the same set of rules.  We should either all have to pay sales tax, or nobody should have to pay sales tax.”

Overstock.com’s CEO has suspended the affiliates program in New York and suggests it may be time for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.

In New York, Chris Hoenig, FOX News Radio.