According to the Washington Post article “IRS wants a cut of online sales on eBay, Craigslist,” dated 30 May, 2010, the IRS wants tax revenue it is considered owed from online sales. The Post notes that “With an estimated $290 billion tax gap…it is politically easier to raise additional revenue from people who haven’t paid their fair share than by raising taxes.”
Doh! It’s a Homer Simpson moment. Let’s move away from television fantasy to the real world here. A new law has been created to help close the tax gap but as the Post additionally notes, “although nobody knows precisely how much the new law will bring in, or how much it will cost to enforce, congressional staffers have estimated it will make only a very small dent in the total tax gap.”
Let’s get after it then, eh?