Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf
Page Number: 8.0

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

and use taxes for the revenue necessary to fund essential
services.  Those  taxes  account  for  over  60  percent  of  its
general fund.

In  2016,  South  Dakota  confronted  the  serious  inequity 
Quill  imposes  by  enacting  S.  106—“An  Act  to  provide  for
the collection of sales taxes from certain remote sellers, to 
establish  certain  Legislative  findings,  and  to  declare  an
emergency.”  S. 106, 2016 Leg. Assembly, 91st Sess. (S. D. 
2016) (S. B. 106).  The legislature found that the inability 
to  collect  sales  tax  from  remote  sellers  was  “seriously 
eroding  the  sales  tax  base”  and  “causing  revenue  losses 
and  imminent  harm  . . .  through  the  loss  of  critical  fund­
ing  for  state  and  local  services.”  §8(1).  The  legislature
also  declared  an  emergency:  “Whereas,  this  Act  is  neces­
sary for the support of the state government and its exist­
ing public institutions, an emergency is hereby declared to
§9.  Fearing  further  erosion  of  the  tax  base, 
exist.” 
the  legislature  expressed  its  intention  to  “apply  South
Dakota’s  sales  and  use  tax  obligations  to  the  limit  of
federal  and  state  constitutional  doctrines”  and  noted  the 
urgent  need  for  this  Court  to  reconsider  its  precedents.
§§8(11), (8).

To  that  end,  the  Act  requires  out-of-state  sellers  to
collect and remit sales tax “as if the seller had a physical
presence in the state.”  §1.  The Act applies only to sellers
that,  on  an  annual  basis,  deliver  more  than  $100,000  of 
goods  or  services  into  the  State  or  engage  in  200  or  more 
separate transactions for the delivery of goods or services
into  the  State.  Ibid.  The  Act  also  forecloses  the  retroac­
tive  application  of  this  requirement  and  provides  means 
for  the  Act  to  be  appropriately  stayed  until  the  constitu­
tionality  of  the  law  has  been  clearly  established.  §§5,  3,
8(10).

Respondents  Wayfair,  Inc.,  Overstock.com,  Inc.,  and 
Newegg,  Inc.,  are  merchants  with  no  employees  or  real 
estate in South Dakota.  Wayfair, Inc., is a leading online