Editorials / Opinion

Taxing Internet purchases would benefit the state

When buying an item via mail order or the Internet, purchasers should pay the sales tax for the state in which the brick-and-mortar merchant or shipping location is sited just as if they were physically in that state [“Senate vote nears on bill that would end tax-free online sales,” page one, April 22].

This principal simplifies the collection of sales tax and helps pay for infrastructure the state provided that allows businesses to operate.

For states that have no sales tax, two solutions are possible: Pay either the resident’s state sales tax if there is one or create a federal sales tax.

Boyce Burdick, Richland