An important milestone in the effort to tax Internet retail sales will be reached Saturday when a group of states adopt provisions established by the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) to collect sales taxes.

This move has been under discussion for sometime now and it appears that at least in some areas tax will be collected from those that market online…

The voluntary program is a big step toward establishing more uniform ways of collecting some $18 billion in taxes that are currently lost to states and municipalities. Congressional leaders have said they will step in with federal legislation once states have hammered out agreements among governments and retailers on sales tax collection machinery.

October first is just another step towards collecting more taxes, said Charles Collins, vice president of government affairs at Taxware, a vendor of tax calculation and compliance systems. Its voluntary. A lot of retailers wont start until after the holiday shopping season. It will be a gradual effect.

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