Federal bill would make online retailers collect sales taxes

Louisianans may have no way of getting around higher sales taxes that are included in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax reform plan if the revitalized Marketplace Fairness Act keeps gaining traction in Congress. The federal bill seeks to level the playing field between brick-and-mortar retailers and online giants like Amazon by forcing the latter to collect sales tax at the time of purchase. On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu threw her support behind the bill, joining a bipartisan group of 53 senators and representatives. Corey Tisdale, CEO of ShoppersChoice.com, which does the bulk of its business online and also has a store on Coursey Boulevard, says the bill “is headed in the right direction.” Yet Tisdale says, in its current form, it doesn’t address his concerns for having to disclose customer information to other state governments. “I would like to see more safeguards about protecting privacy,” Tisdale says. The Heritage Foundation and eBay are against the Marketplace Fairness Act, while a long list of companies—including Amazon (which formerly opposed the bill)—are for it. As Amazon moves closer to one- and same-day delivery across much of the country, it has built distribution centers in big states like California and Texas. As of now, online retailers don’t have to collect and remit sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence, but they do in states where they have an office or warehouse. ShoppersChoice.com will have to collect and remit taxes in other states if the bill is passed. “I think that’s fair,” says Tisdale. —Adam Pearson