Another sales tax bill in Congress

Another effort is under way in Congress to authorize individual state governments to collect sales taxes on online purchases made by their residents.

A small bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Nov. 9.

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This Senate legislation exempts businesses with $500,000 in sales or less while House legislation exempts up to $1 million in business revenue.

Members of Numismatists United for Political Action were not pleased and were exchanging updates.

Online sales are becoming an ever bigger target for states hungry for additional tax revenue, but the roadblock remains a Supreme Court decision in 1992 that requires a physical presence in the state for it to have jurisdiction over the business.

That is why the federal government is involved. It can change the applicable law.

In the early years of the Internet, there was bipartisan agreement not to extend the sales tax so that e-commerce could develop. That consensus is apparently beginning to break down.