Stay up to date on coronavirus coverage: Listen to WMFE on your radio, the WMFE mobile app or your smart speaker — say “Alexa, play NPR” or “WMFE” and you’ll be connected.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling allowing states to collect sales taxes on internet-based sales, forty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted policies to do just that.

Florida is one of only two states that has a statewide sales tax, but does not tax internet sales.

Economic analyst Hank Fishkind says that from a strictly economic perspective, he finds the issue straightforward: there is no economic basis to exempt internet sales from sales taxes.

But as he tells 90.7’s Nicole Darden Creston, things are rarely that simple.

Click the Play Audio button to hear their conversation.