“There are now 12,000 taxing jurisdictions — not only states, counties, and cities, but also parishes, police districts, and Indian reservations. A lone online seller, unprotected by the Quill rule, could be obliged to remit taxes to any combination of them, with all their multitudinous rules and definitions, tax holidays and filing deadlines. E-commerce giants like Apple and Amazon may be able to absorb the enormous costs of setting up and operating multistate tax-collection and remittance systems. For local retailers, internet startups, and small ‘brick-and-click’ vendors with a shop on Main Street and a simple website, those costs could be ruinous.”
Read more: http://www.jeffjacoby.com/20757/in-an-age-of-e-commerce-the-quill-rule-is-more