By Daniel C. Vock | Governing
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley came to the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, backed by the attorneys general in 42 other states [including Arizona], on a mission to overturn a 26-year-old decision that prevents states from collecting taxes on online sales.
But the court’s nine justices quickly made clear that it would not be an easy sell.
Jackley had barely begun explaining that states were losing massive amounts of money and small businesses were being harmed by the 1992 case Quill Corp. v. North Dakota before Justice Sonia Sotomayor interrupted.
“I’m concerned about the many unanswered questions that overturning precedents will create a massive amount of lawsuits about,” she said.
The Quill decision dealt with taxes collected by mail-order catalog companies before the internet became a feature of American life. The 2016 South Dakota law challenges that ruling by allowing the state to collect a sales tax on internet purchases from remote retailers who have a so-called economic presence in the state, rather than the physical presence required by Quill.
