House panel considers Internet sales tax compromise

Seeking to end the long-running battle over the collection of sales taxes for online purchases, the House Judiciary Committee debated possible compromises that included two ideas to tax Internet sales based on the retailer's home state, rather than the buyer's.

Proponents said that such a system would be easier for Web-based retailers to implement because they would need to consult only a single tax rule rather than comply with more than 9,600 local and state tax jurisdictions nationwide.

“The way to level the playing field is to make sure that every business -- brick-and-mortar or online -- is required to do things the same way and follow the same rules," said Chris Cox, a former Republican congressman and counsel to NetChoice, an advocacy group that represents EBay, Overstock.com and other online sellers.