The Direct Marketing Association is not happy about two bills in the House of Representatives - H.R. 2152 introduced by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) and H.R. 2153, introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) - that would allow states to force online sellers to collect sales tax for state and local taxing jurisdictions, reports Multichannel Merchant (via MediaBuyerPlanner). One big problem, according to the DMA, is that neither bill will help to reduce the number of tax jurisdictions.

That is a critical obstacle to a streamlined sales tax program that would make sense for online merchants. There are currently 7,900 separate tax rates in the U.S., and the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement has talked of doubling that amount.

However, writes DM News, the National Retail Federation said the bills would help end the disparity in tax rules between traditional retail stores and remote merchants, which "have an unfair price advantage when they don't have to collect the sales tax that bricks-and-mortar stores collect every day from every customer," according to Maureen Riehl, NRF VP and government and industry relations counsel.