Illinois Supreme Court Rules Amazon Tax Law Unconstitutional

In late October of this year, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a Cook County judge’s earlier ruling that the Main Street Fairness Act, commonly known as the Amazon-tax law, is unconstitutional in Illinois. Contrasting the New York high court's decision to uphold on a similar state tax challenged by Amazon and Overstock.com, the Illinois court determined that the Act violated the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2000 (“ITFA”). The ITFA prohibits states from imposing “discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce.” After the Main Street Fairness Act was passed in 2011, the internet giant-retailer Amazon cut ties with its affiliates in Illinois. Some affiliates moved their business to non-sales tax states in order to continue to do business with Amazon. CouponCabin.com was one of the affiliates that left the state rather than lose "click-through-nexus" payments from Amazon.