"The bipartisan support for this measure shows that Michigan is committed to fully funding our public schools," Engler said in a release today. "By coming together, we protect our schools and give main street retailers a fair and level playing field."
Earlier this month, the Michigan Senate approved HB 5080, a bill offered by the Michigan House, that calls on the state to join the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, founded by the National Governors Association.
A spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, which opposes the project, earlier this month called the Legislatures approval of the bill a major step backward.
Engler in 2000 told the Senate Budget Committee that the U.S. Congress should not play a role in determining whether states can collect online-sales taxes.
The state, starting in fiscal year 1999, asked residents to voluntarily pony up 6 percent in sales taxes for their total online purchases for the year, an idea that Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist at the time called "a stinking fish."
While online-sales-tax collection is legal, raking them in has proven to be a veritable nightmare, as many companies complain that it is impossible to levy state taxes for online sales in nearly all 50 states because of the Internets borderless nature and the thousands of different taxation jurisdictions.
Supporters of forcing online retailers to collect sales taxes from buyers in other states say that the rise of e-commerce will translate into fewer local revenues for essential state and local services, and will hurt real-world retail locations.
"Because Michigan-based retailers are required to collect the sales tax and remote sellers are not, main street retailers are faced with a 6 percent competitive disadvantage," the Michigan Retailers Association noted in statement following the legislatures vote earlier this month.
David McGuire and Robert MacMillan, Newsbytes
