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States will be able to force more people to pay sales tax when they make online purchases under a Supreme Court decision Thursday that will leave shoppers with lighter wallets but is a big financial win for states.

The Supreme Court’s opinion Thursday overruled a pair of decades-old decisions that states said cost them billions of dollars in lost revenue annually. The decisions made it more difficult for states to collect sales tax on certain online purchases.

The cases the court overturned said that if a business was shipping a customer’s purchase to a state where the business didn’t have a physical presence such as a warehouse or office, the business didn’t have to collect sales tax for the state. Customers were generally responsible for paying the sales tax to the state themselves if they weren’t charged it, but most didn’t realize they owed it and few paid.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the previous decisions were flawed. “Each year the physical presence rule becomes further removed from economic reality and results in significant revenue losses to the States,” he wrote in an opinion joined by four other justices. Kennedy wrote that the rule “limited states’ ability to seek long-term prosperity and has prevented market participants from competing on an even playing field.”

The ruling is a victory for big chains with a presence in many states, since they usually collect sales tax on online purchases already. Now, rivals will be charging sales tax where they hadn’t before. Big chains have been collecting sales tax nationwide because they typically have physical stores in whatever state a purchase is being shipped to. Amazon.com, with its network of warehouses, also collects sales tax in every state that charges it, though third-party sellers who use the site don’t have to.

Until now, many sellers that have a physical presence in only a single state or a few states have been able to avoid charging sales taxes when they ship to addresses outside those states. Sellers that use eBay and Etsy, which provide platforms for smaller sellers, also haven’t been collecting sales tax nationwide. Under the ruling Thursday, states can pass laws requiring out-of-state sellers to collect the state’s sales tax from customers and send it to the state.

Retail trade groups praised the ruling, saying it levels the playing field for local and online businesses. The losers, said retail analyst Neil Saunders, are online-only retailers, especially smaller ones. Those retailers may face headaches complying with various state sales tax laws. The

Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council advocacy group said in a a statement, “Small businesses and internet entrepreneurs are not well served at all by this decision.”

36. The Supreme Court decision Thursday will_______

A. Dette business’ relutions with states

B. put most online business in a dilemma

C. make more online shoppers pay sales tax

D. forces some states to cut sales tax

【答案】C

【解析】根據題干關鍵詞”The Supreme Court Decision Thursday”定位到首段首句，States will be able to force more shoppers to pay sales tax when they make online purchases under a Supreme Court decision Thursday that will leave shoppers with lighter wallets but is a big financial win for states.由該句可知，較高法院的裁決可以讓州政府去強制消費者在網上購物時要上繳銷售稅（營業稅），直接得出選項C。

37. It can be learned from paragraphs 2 and 3 that the overruled decisions________

A.have led to the dominance of e-commerce

B.have cost consumers a lot over the years

C.were widely criticized by online purchases

D.were considered up favorable by states

【答案】D

【解析】根據題干定位范圍確定為第二，三段，再根據題干細節： overruled decisions確定定位句為第二段的第一句與第二句，第二句that states said cost them billions of dollars in lost revenue annually州政府抱怨之前的政策導致每年稅收損失慘重。第三句The decisions made it more difficult for states to collect sales tax on certain online purchases，原政策讓州政府很難收取網上購物的營業稅。綜合兩句情感色彩都為負向，對州政府不利，從而得出答案為D。

38.According to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the physical presence rule has_______

A.hindered economic development

B.brought prosperity to the country

C. harmed fair market competition

D. boosted growth in states revenue

【答案】D

【解析】根據題干定位Anthony Kennedy定位在第四段，再根據題干細節physical presence rule確定定位句為第四段的第二句與第三句。第二句"Each year the physical presence rule becomes further removed from economic reality and results in significant revenue losses to the States，實體店規定導致州政府稅收虧損嚴重，第三句the rule "limited States' ability to seek long-term prosperity and has prevented market participants from competing on an even playing field.該規定限制了州政府持長期繁榮，并妨礙了所有市場參與者公平競爭，從而得出答案為D。

39. Who are most likely to welcome the Supreme Court ruling_________

A. Internet entrepreneurs   B. Big-chair owners

C. Third-party sellers      D. Small retailers

【答案】B

【解析】根據題干定位范圍確定為第五段，再根據題干細節： more likely to welcome the Supreme Court ruling確定定位句為第五段的第一句，第一句the ruling is a victory for big chains這項裁決對于大型連鎖公司來說是個勝利。從而得出答案為B。

40.In dealing with the Supreme Court decision Thursday, the author________

A.gives a factual account of it and discusses its consequences

B.describes the long and complicated process of its making

C.presents its main points with conflicting views on them

D.cities some saces related to it and analyzes their implications

【答案】D

【解析】根據各段主旨可以看出作者的行文思路為：首段先介紹新判決，然后二三四段列出一些與此有關的案例，五六七段論其對行業內各界的影響。由此得出正確選項為D。

【試題點評】今年四篇文章難度一般。在我們整體的考研閱讀當中，所需要具備的一個最重要的能力就是如何去看到題目之后，定準了位，并且找到那個我們真正應該找到的位置，在四個選項當中去找意思的原文最匹配的選項。具體相關考點和解題思路在考研教育網強化階段英語強化班閱讀理解部分有重點講解。