Opposition to online sales tax wanes

The push for a federal online sales tax bill previously pitched the young Internet industry against the old retail sector. But no more.

The tech industry’s passion for opposing the issue has waned. Internet retailers grew up, traditional retail giants now blend their online and brick-and-mortar stores and lawmakers no longer talk about needing to protect e-commerce as if it were a new species. “It’s a legacy issue” for tech, said Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, which switched positions on the issue last year. The trade association now supports a federal bill, the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would give states the power to require remote retailers to collect sales tax. “The industry is neutral to sympathetic to the cause of the federal bill.” Congress will begin to consider the Marketplace Fairness Act introduced in both the House and Senate this month.