Should the fact that an out-of-state corporation pays affiliates in a state to direct consumers to its Web site be sufficient to require the corporation to collect taxes on Web sales to state residents? Why or why not?

As discussed in the Adapting the Law to the Online Environment feature in Chapter 11 on page 303, governments at the state and federal levels have long debated whether states should be able to collect sales taxes on online sales to in-state customers. State governments claim that their inability to tax online sales has caused them to lose billions of dollars in sales tax revenue. The issue has taken on new urgency as the states search desperately for revenue in the wake of the economic recession that began in December 2007.