Congressman Peter Welch and four congressional colleagues are calling for passage of a law allowing states to levy sales taxes for online and catalog purchases.
The five are expected to call for passage of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act supported by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The NCSL says states are expected to lose a total of $23 billion in taxes on Internet and catalog sales as opposed to taxes collected by "brick-and-mortar" businesses located in the states.
The proposal would allow states to require online and catalog retailers to collect and pay sales taxes to the individual states.