R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-18.2-1 — Legislative findings

The general assembly finds and declares that:
(1) The commerce clause of the United States Constitution prohibits states from imposing
an undue burden on interstate commerce.
(2) There has been an exponential expansion of online commerce and related technology,
and due to the ready availability of sales and use tax collection software and Rhode
Island’s status as a signatory to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement under
which there is an existing compliance infrastructure in place to facilitate the collection
and remittance of sales tax by non-collecting retailers, it is no longer an undue
burden for non-collecting retailers to accurately compute, collect, and remit and/or
report with respect to their sales and use tax obligations to Rhode Island.
(3) The existence and/or presence of a non-collecting retailer’s, referrer’s, or retail
sale facilitator’s in-state software on the devices of in-state customers constitutes
physical presence of the non-collecting retailer, referrer, or retail sale facilitator
in Rhode Island under Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (U.S. 1992).
(4) While such a physical presence of the non-collecting retailer, referrer, or retail
sale facilitator may not be “presence” in the traditional sense, a non-collecting
retailer, referrer, or retail sale facilitator who uses in-state software and engages
in a significant number of transactions with in-state customers in a calendar year
or receives significant revenue from internet sales to in-state customers in a given
calendar year evidences an intent to establish and maintain a market in this state
for its sales.