Internet sales tax vs. US Constitution?
What is the relevance of Article I Section 9 Clause 5 "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State" to the current issue of collecting sales tax from out-of-state retailers on "internet" sales?
anonymous
shared this idea
4 comments
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fisheman
commented
YES! It does apply to states. Just because congress does something it does not mean it's constitutional. It Article 1 Section 9 says nothing about exports from a foreign country. It says any state!
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Nasty MacNabby
commented
This is a moot point anyways, due to AI,S10,C2 because the states may do so with the authority of Congress, with exception to recovering for expenses, and obviously if Congress passes such legislation then the states would have been given the authority. But yes imports and exports has more to do with duties and imposts.
Duties - A tax on the importation or exportation of goods.
Imposts - A tax placed upon imported goods, merchandise, and products.Both importation and exportation have to do with a foreign source. Now the Union states are considered foreign to each other, except for the purposes of the Constitution, meaning that what is prescribed therein effects the Union states without exception as a singularity.
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legist
commented
The cited constitutional provision applies only to exports from a state to a foreign country; it doesn't apply to interstate shipments. See Dooley v. United States, 183 U.S. 151 (1901).
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Ken Creamer
commented
Such a tax is a direct tax subject to apportionment otherwise unconstitutional.
