AP Wire Service

Michigan would be able to join a national system for collecting state sales taxes on Internet purchases under a bill approved Tuesday by a state House committee.

After its first hearing on the issue, the House Commerce Committee voted 14-2 to approve the bill.

The bill now goes to the full House, where Rep. Jason Allen (R-Traverse City), who sponsored the bill, expects similar support.

While it appears House Republicans are falling in line behind the new bill, a few conservative members remain adamantly opposed to the legislation, which they say will hurt taxpayers.

``This is the worst time to look at this,'' said state Rep. Leon Drolet, (R-Clinton).

``The economy slowdown is happening because the citizens of Michigan don't have as much money,'' he said.

But others insist the Internet sales tax is not a tax increase, but a current tax that is widely ignored.

``It's been spun as a new tax, and it's not a new tax. It's streamlining the collection of taxes,'' says House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy).

The legislation would allow Michigan to join the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which already includes 19 states.

Michigan will lose $240 million next year in unpaid taxes on Internet buys, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury. That is expected to increase more than 10 percent a year if nothing is done.

Supporters point to beneficiaries of the taxes, including the state school aid fund. That fund receives about two-thirds of the money collected from the state's 6-cent sales and use taxes.

They also say it evens competition between Internet companies, which typically don't collect the taxes, and retailers in Michigan that have to collect it.

``There should be no difference whether you buy something from the state or from a business in another state through the Internet. You should pay the sales tax,'' says Al Short of the Michigan Education Association.

Taxpayer advocates, however, say the bill violates the U.S. Constitution by attempting to collect states' sales taxes across state borders.

Emily Sedgwick, of Americans for Tax Reform, says the bill would keep businesses from getting into e-commerce and burden taxpayers with the added cost of a bigger government bureaucracy.