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The reintroduction of the Marketplace Fairness Act has resulted in the reintroduction of myths and half truths about its impact on businesses. In this post, we counter the three main fears about collecting internet sales tax.

Fear: Collecting sales tax is too difficult.

Some point to the fact that, nationwide, there are over 9,600 tax jurisdictions, and they argue that online sales tax collection would be so difficult that online retailers would have to hire additional staff to handle it.

Fact: Fortunately, technology provides an easy answer. Sales tax rates are easily stored and maintained in a database—it doesn’t matter if there is 1 rate or 100,000. Databases easily handle tax exemptions, too, for every location. Everything needed to figure out the correct tax rate is already present during an online sale: the purchaser’s address, the sales price, and the type of item being purchased.

Sales tax management services, which offer retailers an easy way to manage sales tax, have already been integrated with most e-commerce platforms, so starting to collect sales tax can be as easy as checking a box.

The proposed legislation is doing its part, too, to make collecting sales tax easy. It requires that states simplify their sale tax laws before online retailers start collecting, lets retailers file one sales tax return per state, and centralizes the registration process. It also requires states to make available free sales tax software for retailers that can work with all states.

So much for the concern over difficulty; what about cost? Sales tax management services are available at every price point—including free. So collecting sales tax doesn’t need to cost an online retailer anything.

And it’s also worth noting that most online retailers won’t have to collect sales tax at all. Only retailers with over $1 million in annual out-of-state sales will be affected.

Fear: This will give local stores an advantage over online stores.

Fact: Actually, it will correct an artificial advantage that online stores currently have, creating a more level playing field for all retailers.

Right now local stores have to collect sales tax while online stores don’t, which gives online stores the appearance of a price advantage of up to 10%. Even when bricks-and-mortar retailers also sell online, it doesn’t change the basic fact that in their local stores, they have to collect sales tax, while online stores don’t.

If the law doesn’t change to keep up with the way people shop, the logical conclusion is that many businesses will elect to only sell online—which would mean no local shopping. Picture your community without a bookstore, clothing store, or electronics store. That’s not what anyone wants.

Fear: This is a new tax.

Fact: If you live in a state with sales tax, you already owe sales tax on your online purchases. If the retailer doesn’t collect sales tax, the purchaser is supposed to pay the tax due directly to the state. In other words, this isn’t a taxation issue, it’s a collection issue.

Most people don’t know that they owe sales tax when they buy online, and states find it almost impossible to enforce their own sales tax laws online. That’s why the Marketplace Fairness Act is needed: to allow states to enforce their own laws and end the sales tax loophole that favors online retailers over local retailers.