The state wanted to collect sales tax on goods sold. However, the Supreme Court ruled against Illinois because National Bellas Hess had no physical presence in the state. A statute requiring taxes on goods sold within the state violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause and created an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce. Later, in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the Supreme Court said that the issue of catalog sales was no longer one of due process, but of interstate commerce, and that Congress would be best suited to deal with the issue. E-commerce is now the issue.
Simplification is needed.
The group is working on a system that can be used nationwide with the hope that Congress will then require sales tax on e-commerce transactions. The decision is not to require one rate per state, but the group has offered several business plans. Certified Software System - a software system would be developed for a company to purchase and would also offer software protection. Entities with their own systems could have them certified. Taxpayers could send in returns.