Retailers will begin charging sales taxes on Internet customers in Washington this summer.

On July 1, Washington will join 18 other states that require some e-commerce businesses to collect sales tax. About 1,100 online retailers have volunteered to collect taxes, and in return, states such as Washington promise not to sue them for back taxes.

The 2007 Washington Legislature passed a law that alters the way taxes are calculated and forces retailers to recognize the tax structures of each of the state’s 350 tax districts.

The Department of Revenue hopes to collect $37.5 million in the online taxes in 2009, with local districts expecting $11.5 million. However, the state will lose money in the first year of the new law due to the $32 million it promised to distribute to certain local governments that worried their cities would lose out, and another $12 million it will spend to compensate small retailers that comply.

(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)