Legal Matters: Proposed Marketplace Fairness Act Threatens Direct Marketers

The justices were especially concerned with the burdens involved in collecting taxes on behalf of thousands of sales tax jurisdictions with varying rates and requirements. However, the Supreme Court concluded in its famous 1992 Quill vs. North Dakota decision that if Congress chose to do so, it could grant the states new and expanded taxation authority over remote sellers. Since that ruling numerous bills have been introduced that would impose tax collection obligations on catalog companies and electronic merchants. None have passed, however, primarily because the proposals failed to include sufficient simplification and uniformity measures to address the disparate and confusing features of state and local sales taxes.