Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is “looking at”scheduling a bill that would let states collect taxes onout-of-state sellers as the next issue on lawmakers' agenda afterpending gun legislation.

Reid, who controls the flow of legislation to the U.S. Senate'sfloor, indicated in a brief interview yesterday in Washington thathe hadn't made a decision yet. A vote on the sales tax measurecould come as early as next week, said a Senate Democratic aide whospoke on condition of anonymity.

The bill, backed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.,would let states collect some of the $24 billion in revenue theylose to untaxed sales made by retailers with no physical presencein their states. EBay Inc. and anti-tax groups such as Americansfor Tax Reform oppose the measure.

The Senate took a 75-24 non-binding vote in favor of theproposal on March 22, as part of its debate of a government hebudget. The Senate is currently considering gun-control legislationspurred by the December shootings at a Connecticut elementaryschool.

“The big vote last month made it clear that sooner or later,this is going to become the law,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, aTennessee Republican and one of the sponsors of the sales taxproposal.

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, yesterday began the process ofbypassing the Senate Finance Committee and bringing the measuredirectly to the floor.

The committee's chairman, Democrat Max Baucus of Montana,represents one of five states without a sales tax. He opposes themeasure.

Senator Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican and themeasure's chief opponent, said she would “fight with everyprocedural tool” at her disposal to thwart it.

“New Hampshire doesn't have a sales tax, and this notion thatwe're going to burden online sellers, which has been a robust areaof our economy, to become the sales-tax collectors for the nation,I think it's wrong for economic growth,” she said.

The bill includes a $1 million exemption to protect smallbusinesses. That needs to be “improved,” said Brian Bieron, seniordirector of global public policy at EBay.

The bill is “threatening them with audits and litigation by taxcollectors from states that are thousands of miles away from wherethey live, work and create jobs,” he said in a statement.

The bill is S. 743.

Bloomberg News

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