Supporters vow to press ahead on online sales tax

A key sponsor of a Senate online sales tax measure said backers would continue to look to pass the bill this year, even if it’s not attached to a broad measure dealing with the fiscal cliff.

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said that he believed a measure to give states greater latitutde to collect sales tax on online purchases had the support of at least 60 senators.

The office of another prominent backer of the measure, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), has said that the senator would not push to attach the online sales tax bill to a year-end tax and spending deal.

For his part, Enzi said Wednesday that online sales tax “might not be appropriate for fiscal cliff.”

“There’ll be other bills that come up before the end of the year,” Enzi told The Hill. “We’ll look for a vehicle.”

Enzi and other backers of an online sales tax measure – Reps. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) – addressed state lawmakers on Wednesday who were scheduled to lobby their senators on the issue. 

Under current law, online retailers are only required to collect sales taxes from customers in states where they have a physical presence. Retail groups say this gives online operators an edge over brick-and-mortar establishments, while states say it deprives them of needed revenues.

But some prominent conservatives and online operation oppose the measure allowing states to decide whether to force Internet retailers to collect from out-of-state customers, saying it would be a burden on those companies.

On Wednesday, Enzi told the state lawmakers that he believed the online sales tax measure had the support of 60 senators, but still urged them to lobby hard for the issue.

“You need to have a margin of error on all of these things,” Enzi said. “And I think there is a slight margin.”

But as Durbin’s office said Tuesday, the options for getting a bill enacted this year are “limited,” given that it likely won’t be tacked on to a cliff deal. 

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