Supreme Court won't stop NY's Internet taxation

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- On perhaps the busiest online shopping day of the year, the Supreme Court refused on Monday to wade into a dispute over state sales taxes on purchases on websites like Amazon.com, an outcome likely to prompt more states to attempt to collect taxes on Internet sales.

It's part of a furious battle - also including legislation in Congress - among Internet sellers, millions of buyers, aggrieved brick-and-mortar stores and states hungry for billions of dollars in extra tax revenue.

The high court without comment turned away appeals from Amazon.com LLC and Overstock.com Inc. in their fight against a New York court decision forcing them to remit sales tax the same way in-state businesses do. This could hurt online shopping in that state, since one of the attractions of Internet purchasing is the lack of a state sales tax, which makes some items a little cheaper than they would be inside a store on the corner.

And the effect could be felt far beyond New York if it encourages other states to act. The National Council of State Legislatures estimates that states lost an estimated $23.3 billion in 2012 as a result of being unable to collect sales tax on online and catalog purchases.

This decision came down on Cyber Monday, expected to be the busiest day of the year for online shopping. Millions of people head online on the first working day after the long Thanksgiving weekend in search of Internet deals. Overall, Internet shopping has become more and more popular, with the National Retail Federation predicting that more than 131 million people would shop online on Monday, up about 2 percent from last year.

Web retailers generally have not had to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence. But New York and other states say that a retailer has a physical presence when it uses affiliates - people and businesses that refer customers to the retailer's website and collect a commission on sales. These affiliates range from one-person blogs promoting the latest gadgets to companies that run coupon and deal sites.

Amazon and Overstock both use affiliate programs. Amazon has been collecting sales tax in New York, even as it fights the state over a 2008 law that was the first to consider local affiliates enough of an in-state presence to require sales tax collection. Overstock ended its affiliate program in New York in 2008 after the law passed and has ended its affiliate programs in other states that have tried to force it to collect sales taxes.

Both companies collect sales taxes in some states. For example, Overstock.com collects taxes in Utah, where it is based.

But each state has its own rules on Internet sales taxes. While today's Supreme Court result settles the issue for New York, legislatures and courts in other states have come to different conclusions - meaning that some Americans will still get state-tax free Internet purchases from

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The National Council of State Legislatures estimates that states lost an estimated $23.3 billion in 2012 as a result of being unable to collect sales tax on online and catalog purchases.

Does that tick anyone else off? The implication that collecting taxes is a right?