By Jeff Jacoby
The current system is far fairer than the one Durbin wants. Brick-and-mortar merchants charge sales taxes based on their physical location. The exact same rule applies to online merchants. A Pennsylvania tobacco shop doesn’t collect Ohio sales taxes whenever it sells a humidor to a visitor from Ohio. Amazon shouldn’t have to either.
“Out-of-state companies that aren’t paying their fair share of taxes,” Durbin argues, “are sticking Illinois residents and businesses with the tab.” With what tab? Taxes paid should bear some relation to services received, and merchants with no “substantial nexus” to a state receive little or no services from it. They don’t use its firefighters or sewers, don’t send their kids to its schools, and don’t expect it to plow their streets after a blizzard. To force them nevertheless to collect and remit that state’s taxes would be grossly unreasonable.
Durbin’s bill would only hurt the consumers he claims to be “looking out for.” The existing arrangement has worked well for 40 years. The only thing it needs from Congress is a good leaving-alone.
More
Front Page