The United States Senate has approved legislation which will enable states to place sales taxes on purchases made over the internet.

This is a good thing.

While the bill may hit shoal water in the tax-averse House of Representatives, a sense of fair play may help to push it to enactment.

Fair play: because internet giants such as Amazon compete with Main Street stores that sell the same thing. One store is burdened with collecting taxes, the other is not. On the other hand, most people are so accustomed to paying a sales tax that they will neither notice nor resent a tax collected through the internet.

As more sales are diverted to online retailers, states and localities have suffered through loss of tax revenues. If the internet sales tax makes it through, watch for jurisdictions to start reporting healthier incomes.

That could ease some of the pinch now being felt as budgets are created. Counties such as Gloucester and Mathews will have better options than simply raising ...