I don't think some are paying a fair share. One thing I know that will happen is a tax on internet sales , internet downloads etc. New York is already doing it. Expect the new administration to close that loop hole. You have to pay sales tax when you go to the local store. You should have to pay it on the internet as well. Look at all that lost revenue. I also think ebay sales should be taxed as income .
Well I don't agree with that. Internet sales already are charged a sales tax if the firm does business in the state in which the sales tax would be charged. If they are not doing business there, why should they be paying a tax to the state if they are not using any of the state's infrastructure? I don't buy the "fairness" thing and comparison with local stores and the "internet sales tax" is a red herring. It's not a tax on "internet" sales. It's a tax on out of state purchases.
And as far as the comparison - the advantage of a local store is ease of returns/issues. Mail order purchases take a risk having a harder time with that, so the comparison just isn't there.
When the internet didn't exist and people only shopped via mail order - no one complained about it not having to pay taxes on those mail order purchases. However, because so many people shop on the internet, now it's an issue. Anyway, if there wasn't a tax before, why would there be a tax now? Since when does something become law because more people do it? It's either a law or not. It shouldn't be "we don't charge sales tax until x% of people purchase through the internet".
And lastly - the administration can prohibit internet taxes, but I can't see how they can require it when sales taxes are a matter of state law, and not federal law.
Oh, one more thing - ebay sales are taxed at income. You are required to report these sales on your tax forms. It's just like any other self-employed revenue. Whether or not people actually report the right things is another story but not sure what else you can do. ebay isn't giving you the revenue so they can't issue you a W2 Form.
Ok, off my soapbox.