The Joplin Globe

It would be informative to know just how much sales tax money is being lost in Missouri and by the city of Joplin, county of Jasper and local schools because online stores aren't charging or collecting taxes on purchases. We suspect that those entities could add a collective hundred thousand dollars or more to their revenue estimate.

The problem with Internet sales, of course, is that bricks-and-mortar businesses are put at a disadvantage in having to collect sales taxes when their e-tailer brethren don't. It not only is unfair to those companies ... but it shortchanges local education, streets, law enforcement, fire protection, county roads and all sorts of grass-roots government services.

Online sales are going up. It is estimated that states and other governments will lose $18 billion or so in 2005. That is revenue that could prop up some important but underfunded programs, or might be channeled into schools, health care or highways. But it isn't going to happen unless Congress or the courts force cyber stores to collect and distribute sales taxes.

Retailers online have argued over the years that the tax structures of the various states, counties and cities are simply too complex. More than a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court found that to expect such a calculation from a business would be overly onerous.

But companies might not have to figure every city, county and sales tax in the nation, and enter those numbers into their computers. States with similar rates might form regional groups and set a single sales-tax rate for all, with each state responsible for divvying up its share of the overall revenue pot with counties, cities and other entities.

It might not be completely accurate or even satisfactory, but it certainly would be better for schools, cities and counties -- not to mention cash-strapped states -- than what is available now. ...