Re: Taxes and stuff (was: TP755CE not in stock?)

[Keith Moore <moore@CS.UTK.EDU>]

> The key word I believe was "nexus," or a business presence.  It came up
> in a Supreme Court decision either late last year or early this year.
> I think the decision was that states could collect sales tax only if
> the seller had a business presence in that state.  Otherwise it's
> interstate commerce and the states can't touch it.

That's how I thought things worked.  

I looked in the Supreme Court rulings at Cornell and found 
Quill Corp. v. North Dakota from 1992.  Basically it affirms 
that a state cannot impose sales or use tax on goods sold by
mail order by an out-of-state business that had neither outlets
nor sales representatives in that state. 

However, the Quill ruling noted that Congress now has the authority 
to allow states to impose such taxes if it sees fit, since the
Court had removed (since an earlier ruling) restrictions on such 
taxes due to the Due Process clause.

I have no idea whether Congress has since granted authority to 
states to impose such taxes.

See http://www.law.cornell.edu/syllabi?quill

Keith