CNET: States push for piece of online sales
I'll take dat
Outmoded "use taxes" - long flouted taxes on goods brought back into one state from another - have been even more consistently flouted in the e-commerce world. But California and New York, along with 17 other states, hope to collect some of this lost revenue by asking tax filers to voluntarily list out-of-state purchases on their returns. Failing to list that computer bought in a state next door could now make a resident a tax cheat.
Some state legislatures have tried - so far without completely successful legal review - to make out-of-state online merchants report such purchases, so residents would no longer be responsible for reporting. Such a regime would quickly reverse the tax advantages currently enjoyed by e-commerce, making real-life retail stores cheaper for out-of-staters.
