Online sales tax measure may snag in House
Tax policy analyst Andrew Moylan, who spoke with the members of House Judiciary about the online sales tax issue in March, said one of the alternatives Goodlatte is considering would require online vendors to claim a physical presence somewhere, such as a brick-and-mortar store, and apply that state’s sales tax to its sales.
Called origin sourcing, the concept is intended to keep retailers from having to keep up with nearly 10,000 tax jurisdictions across the U.S. and prevent the precedent of giving states the power to tax outside their borders, said Moylan, who is executive director of R Street Institute, a conservative think tank.
“To give states taxing power that’s as massive and unlimited as the Internet is not a particularly conservative impulse,” Moylan said.
