Supreme Court Takes Case to Decide Fate of Online Sales Tax

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Twenty five years after the United States Supreme Court created the loophole that today allows Internet-only sellers to evade state sales tax collection, the Court has granted South Dakota's petition for certiorari in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., Overstock.com, Inc., and Newegg, Inc.  By taking the case, the Court can end the carve out created by Quill and validate efforts by states and the merchant community to create a level playing field for all retailers. 

"The Court's decision to grant South Dakota's petition is an important signal for retailers that invest in storefronts and jobs in local communities," said RILA General Counsel and Retail Litigation Center President Deborah White. "Retailers have supported this case since the beginning, and believe it is the right case to correct the constitutional course set more than 50 years ago -- well before the advent of e-commerce -- that today gives online-only retailers an unfair commercial advantage at the expense of local retailers."

"The retail community is grateful that the Court has recognized the extraordinary importance of this issue," said White. "Retailers hope that the Court will ultimately conclude that the economic-nexus standard is a more appropriate way to decide today which retailers must collect sales tax than the physical-presence test created more than a half century ago.  In doing so, the Court will validate efforts by the states to treat community and absentee retailers equally when they conduct business with consumers in their state."

The Retail Litigation Center is a public policy organization that identifies and engages in legal proceedings that affect the retail industry.  The RLC, whose members include some of the country's largest retailers, was formed to provide courts with retail industry perspectives on significant legal issues, and highlight the potential industry-wide consequences of legal principles that may be determined in pending cases.

RILA is the trade association of the world's largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad

SOURCE Retail Industry Leaders Association

Related Links

http://www.rila.org