Internet Sales Tax Case Ignored By SCOTUS

[Matt Collins]

"Robert Barnes of the Washington Post reports that the US Supreme Court has declined to hear petitions from Amazon.com and Overstock.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-declines-case-on-making-online-retailers-collect-sales-taxes/2013/12/02/e430ec8c-55f5-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html) requesting that a decision by the New York State Supreme Court permitting that state's 2008 law requiring sales taxes be collected on Internet sales, even if the seller has no 'business presence' in New York. The New York Court of Appeals ruled that Amazon's relationship with third-party affiliates in the state that receive commissions for sending Web traffic its way satisfied the 'substantial nexus' necessary to force the company to collect taxes, and New York's Supreme Court had affirmed the ruling. The Federal high court's refusal to hear the petitions leaves the state law in effect, even though it appears to conflict with the Court's 1993 decision in Quill v. North Dakota."

[Peace&Freedom]

It's appalling how much bad case law is being continuously created by the courts these days, by the silence of the Supreme Court in failing to strike down lower court decisions that are patently contrary to their own precedents. The notion that third party affiliates made Amazon subject to the tax had not prevailed in cases the Supreme Court ruled on, but they are failing to overturn new federal court cases that ruled on the subject in a manner contrary to their own established precedent. It seems the federal government wants the internet sales tax, and will not be deterred.