Big Ideas: On Internet taxes, equal opportunity and citizenship

Howard Gleckman for Taxvox: Online retailers have argued for years that they’ll lose business if they have to collect sales taxes on their online transactions. A new study by three researchers at Ohio State finds they are right. Paradoxically, the study may increase support by some online sellers for federal legislation to standardize collections across states.

The study, by Brian Baugh, Itzhak Ben-David and Hoonsuk Park, looked at five states that required Amazon.com to collect sales taxes. Once Amazon started collecting, consumers in those states bought 9.5 percent less from the firm.