With the advent of companies like Amazon and Overstock, the past 20 years have seen a surge in commerce through the Internet. Gone are the days where consumers necessarily make purchases at traditional “brick and mortar” shops. Instead, consumers increasingly flock to websites, which provide both the convenience of shopping from home and, until relatively recently, no sales tax.
Eager to access revenue streams from online transactions, New York became one of the first states to successfully create a statutory framework imposing a sales tax on out-of-state retailers. Several other states have followed suit, and Internet giants have been vigorously litigating the passage of such statutes on a state-by-state basis. Many had hoped the constitutionality of these tax laws would be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, on Dec. 2, 2013, the high court denied certiorari on just such a challenge to New York’s statute by Amazon and Overstock, increasing calls for congressional intervention.1 This article examines state power to tax Internet sales, litigation over New York’s statute, and the state of congressional activity in this area.
