Realtors® Commend Supreme Court Decision Promoting Fairness Between Online, Main Street Businesses

WASHINGTON (June 21, 2018) – The Supreme Court today announced its decision in the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., holding that states have the right to require online sellers to collect and remit sales tax. The court upheld a South Dakota law that applies to retailers that engage in 200 or more transactions or deliver more than $100,000 worth of goods or services into South Dakota per year, paving the way for all states to require sales tax collection from online retailers with no physical presence within the state.

National Association of Realtors® President Elizabeth Mendenhall, a sixth-generation Realtor® from Columbia, Missouri and CEO of RE/MAX Boone Realty, issued the following statement in support of today’s ruling:

“The National Association of Realtors® has long held that our nation’s tax policy must be modernized to reflect new realities in consumer activity. Local brick-and-mortar businesses, important clients of commercial real estate practitioners, find themselves at a tremendous disadvantage when forced to collect taxes that online retailers are not.

“Ultimately, this is an issue of fairness. Regardless of how Americans shop for goods, whether that’s on the internet or in our neighborhood small businesses, we must expect that all retailers face equal sales tax treatment.”

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

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