States struggle to collect taxes from e-commerce

Lawmakers in New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Hawaii have all introduced legislation in the past month that requires e-commerce companies to collect sales tax if they have marketing affiliates based in those states. This week, Hawaii governor Linda Lingle vetoed her state’s bill. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promsed to do the same. Affiliates are website operators who get a commission for routing buyers from their own site to, say, Amazon. Last Sunday, Amazon notified its affiliates in Rhode Island that the company had cut its ties with them in order to avoid paying current... [read full story]                    

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