This move will really ‘help’ grow the economy and pull us out of a recession:

Sen. Richard Durbin rebooted his Internet sales tax bill, picking up crucial GOP support by exempting small online retailers and making it easier for states to comply.

Along with Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the Illinois Democrat wants to allow states to collect sales taxes from Internet retailers if they adopt one of two sales tax simplification options outlined in the legislation introduced Wednesday.

The bill addresses a legal loophole, created by Supreme Court decisions predating the Internet, which allows online retailers to avoid paying state sales taxes that brick-and-mortar stores must remit. As online sales soared at the expense of traditional retailers, states and cities have missed out on billions in tax revenues.

“We are not creating any new taxes in this bill,” Mr. Durbin said. “It’s a mechanism to collect taxes that are already on the books.”

Of course, states and cities didn’t cut back spending when they supposedly lost the billions in taxes they were expecting to confiscate.