eBay Inc.'s Tod Cohen, retailers and state legislators testified Wednesday regarding legislation allowing states to collect sales taxes for online purchases. Much of the hearing centered on the Supreme Court\'s 1992 Quill Corporation vs. North Dakota ruling that retailers with no physical presence in a state did not have to collect sales taxes for that state.

Cohen advocated for a robust exemption from sales tax collection and remittance requirements on behalf of the thousands of small business retailers that use the eBay platform.

Below are just a few of the interesting articles covering the heading:

Reuters Reports on Internet Sales Tax Hearing

In its article, "Congress steps into states\' scuffle over sales tax", Reuters reported on yesterday\'s House Judiciary Committee hearing to explore whether Congress should require that sales taxes be collected for remote purchases.  eBay Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Tod Cohen testified that any federal Internet sales tax legislation should include a robust small business exemption to protect small Internet retailers from sales tax collection and remittance requirements.

eBay Argues on Behalf of Small Businesses

"Sameness is not fairness," argued Tod Cohen, eBay Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, before a panel of House Judiciary Committee members yesterday.  Cohen advocated for a robust exemption from sales tax collection and remittance requirements on behalf of the thousands of small business retailers that use the eBay platform.   To read more about the hearing, visit the blog post entitled, Amazon, eBay at odds over Web Sales Tax on the Wall Street Journal\'s MarketWatch blog.

WSJ Describes Debate over Small Business Protections

The Wall Street Journal today published a story to outline the debate over a small business exemption in Internet Sales tax legislation.  The article, "Sales-Tax Measures \'to Cost Us Big\'", also highlighted portions of eBay Vice President Tod Cohen\'s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday.  At that hearing, Cohen emphasized that without a robust small business exemption, Internet sales tax legislation would "unbalance the playing field" between giant online retailers and small-business retailers using the Internet.