By Paul Merrion
May 30, 2014
Illinois is poised to re-impose sales taxes on some Internet purchases, seven months after the state’s so-called Amazon tax was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Brick-and-mortar retailers hailed the move while online firms expressed dismay.
“It’s obviously extremely disappointing,” said Brian Littleton, president and CEO of Chicago-based ShareASale.com Inc., a provider of affiliate marketing network software. He said firms that started offering coupons again in Illinois since October’s ruling will again be forced to leave the state or shut down.
(From the archives: Why Illinois court’s ‘Amazon tax’ ruling may not last long)
This time around, he said, it could affect Chicago’s Groupon Inc., which started offering coupons last fall. A Groupon official said in an email that “we are indeed looking closely at the implications of the law for our new Freebies business.”