Should You Pay Tax When You Buy Online?

Why should online shoppers pay sales tax? Why or why not? Leave a comment below.

You could pay the same sales tax for online purchases as you do for shopping at a physical store if a bill that passed the U.S. Senate Monday becomes law.

The Marketplace Fairness Act would allow states to collect sales tax from retailers with more than $1 million in annual gross sales to out-of-state customers. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken (both DFL-MN) voted yes, joined by 67 other senators including 21 Republicans.

Minnesota Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans praised the Senate action in a press release:

"This legislation levels the playing field for all those Main Street businesses in Minnesota and across the country. It also helps large retailers like Best Buy and Target that serve as 'showrooms' for shoppers who test products at local stores then buy them online without paying sales tax."

Also backing the online tax are owners of smaller businesses—such as Roberta Bonoff (pictured), president of Creative Kidstuff, with stores in Maple Grove, Southwest Minneapolis, Edina, Wayzata, St. Louis Park and St. Paul.

But collecting taxes for 50 states would be "a nightmare," one online retailer told NPR: 

"Something gets exchanged and it's sent to another state. Then we have to figure out how to refund the taxes from the first state, collect our refund from that state, then charge the customer the new tax."

Should you pay tax for what you buy online? Why or why not? Leave a comment below.