NAVIGATING THE INTERNET SALES TAX DEBATE.

• Position: Brief Article

Anyone who makes purchases using the Internet or telephone should raise a concerned brow at Congress' recent movement to permit states to force merchants to collect sales taxes from beyond their jurisdiction, according to the Institute for Policy Innovation.

Constitutional difficulties arise, says IPI, because current law prohibits states from taxing businesses that have no presence within the state. Otherwise, states would be able to tax citizens of other states and those citizens would have no electoral recourse

A better solution is to make permanent the Internet tax moratorium--which prohibits taxes on Internet access or discriminatory Internet...