A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives last week would allow states to collect tax on sales that occur via Internet, phone or catalog. Only states that have complied with the Streamlined Sales Tax Project would be eligible to collect taxes.
The SSTP sets a uniform sales tax system that supporters of the project hope will overcome the objections of a 1992 Supreme Court ruling stating that the thousands of state and local sales tax codes were too burdensome for remote sellers without a physical presence in a state to track. Nearly 40 states and the District of Columbia are participating in the project, though less than half that number have enacted legislation to comply.
