Internet Sales Tax

The end is near. The agenda for the D.C. Council’s penultimate legislative meeting last Tuesday included more than 100 items, from firearm safety to campaign finance reform to turnstile jumping to building a new hospital east of the…

The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to use millions of dollars in new revenue from online sales taxes to cut commercial property taxes, over the objections of advocates who lobbied to direct that funding toward homeless services instead.

Thanks to a Supreme Court decision earlier this year, the District may legally impose sales taxes on online purchases from retailers who lack a physical presence in D.C. Policymakers are set to green-light such taxes on Tuesday, during one…

Back in 2013, the D.C. Council was salivating over a shiny new source of revenue: sales tax from stuff bought on the internet. At the time, however, states and cities could not legally collect sales tax from sellers not physically located…