For the past few years, online retailers like Amazon and E-bay have faced an onslaught of proposals meant to make them, rather than purchasers, responsible for the collection of state and local sales taxes.
The retailers lost some, even won a few for the time being, and faced a bleak future.
But no more.
Up stepped U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn, who ruled, in part, that a Colorado law previously passed would “…discriminate against the out-of-state retailers by imposing unique burdens on those retailers…”.
This single ruling will probably ensure that this matter will eventually wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
It’s quite likely that some Judge, somewhere, will rule in favor of a law passed by some other state. And that’s all we need to get this ball rolling to the “Supremes” in Washington D.C.
Now that a monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix, legislation pending in States considering this matter may be put on hold or, better yet, defeated for good.
Although the Judges’ ruling is not the final verdict, affiliates and online retailers now stand a fighting chance.
To borrow a phrase made famous by Bette Davis in the movie All About Eve: “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” (She said “…bumpy night.”, but this ride is going to take a lot longer.)
Perhaps it’d be better if it were more like Back to the Future: “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
And actually, we are “going where no man has gone before,” because these are all new notions in tax law – all thanks to the invention of the Internet and eCommerce.
For the full story on the Denver Post’s Web site, visit the short link: http://bit.ly/JBZkeT.
