Internet Sales Tax Coming to Your Neighborhood

If you are one of those people who enjoy shopping online and not paying state sales taxes, your enjoyment may be short lived.  The mega-online retailer Amazon.com has sued the state of New York over a NY law that requires out-of-state companies to collect NY sales taxes.  Amazon is charging the NY law is unconstitutional.

NY state officials estimate NY state would gain about $50 million by requiring Internet giants such as Amazon.com to collect state sales tax.
Businesses that are physically in New York already collect NY state sales taxes on online purchases.

With so much money at stake, this case will undoubtedly wind up on the steps of the Supreme Court. 

Some of the questions are:

Should state governments be allowed to collect sales taxes from out-of-state companies on their online sales?

Should the federal government impose a national sales tax on Internet sales?

If the state and/or federal government doesn’t collect sales taxes for online sales, doesn’t this give online retailers an unfair advantage over traditional retailers?