Marketplace Fairness Act poised to pass the Senate, and may have enough support in the House to see it passed.

The bill doesn’t impose new taxes, or impose an Internet sales tax. It clarifies how retailers must collect and remit taxes already imposed by the 46 states that have a state sales tax. If you’re a brick and mortar retailer in a state, you already collect sales tax. If you’re a .com company and have a physical presence in another state, that company is also collecting sales tax.

This bill would clarify the situation for companies that don’t have physical presence (aka nexus) with the taxing state. Quill v. North Dakota said that states can’t require out-of-state sellers to collect and remit taxes unless they’ve got a substantial nexus with the state (physical presence being one way that’s achieved). States have tried to come up with a way to meet the Quill requirements, but it’s a fact-based analysis and troublesome for both states and retailers. Even the Supreme Court had sought to get Congress to address the issue in Quill.

This bill goes a long way to fixing the problem, though there are details to address - how to make it easier for small businesses to comply or exempt them from the requirement (like those making $1 million or less in annual sales). A company like Amazon has already decided it’s in their interest to support the plan since they’re intent on being a same-day delivery service in many parts of the country (requiring warehouses throughout). EBay is fighting it because the majority of their sellers aren’t large enough (though I think eBay could figure out how to collect tax on the sellers’ behalf).