The Illinois Supreme Court is invalidating a two-year-old Illinois law charging taxes on certain Internet sales. The justices ruled 6-1 in an opinion released Friday to invalidate the so-called "Amazon tax."
The ruling determined that the law violates a pre-emptive federal decree prohibiting "discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce."
Lawmakers created the Internet tax in 2011 on out-of-state electronic retailers.
The law claimed those merchants maintained a presence in the state through a website link. In other words, if a blogger referred customers to a company by encouraging clicking on a site-based advertisement, that was "presence" in Illinois, which obligated the seller to collect sales tax.
