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Today before the Supreme Court the States will argue the case of charging companies like Amazon to collect sales taxes on their behalf for goods bought by their citizens from out of state vendors. The sales tax, when applied to goods made outside the state and sold and shipped to state residents is a tariff. The Constitution of the United States is perfectly clear on this matter and permits the States to levy such a tax; however any revenue derived from this tax belongs not to the State, but the Federal Government.
The reason for this provision was that after the Revolution the States earned revenue on goods passing through their ports, intended for ultimate shipment to other States that did not have port facilities. The prohibition was included so the federal government could use this method to finance the costs of the federal government, instead of a head tax, which was what was ostensibly agreed as the basis of revenue by the framers at the Constitutional Convention.
It will be interesting to see how the Court comes down on this, but in any event, the loser will be the consumer, because they are the ones who ultimately pay the tax. It is clear how it should come down but since politicians; including those on the Court, no longer consider most of the original Constitution law, just about anything can come of it.
By the way, the state’s sales tax is unconstitutional because it is a bill of attainder, having excluded certain items from its application.