While members of Congress negotiate to avoid sending the nation off the fiscal cliff, they should be sure to include a proposal to give states the authority to collect sales tax from online retailers not based in their state.

For Washington state, the change could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in additional state and local sales-tax revenue. The tax is now often not collected when state residents buy from out-of-state retailers. Sales-tax collections are especially important in a state like Washington with no income tax. The Legislature is facing a projected $900 million deficit in the next biennium.

Residents from Washington or other states with sales taxes should pay their state’s sales tax whether transactions take place in a bricks-and-mortar store down the street or from a distant retailer on the Internet. Amending tax law to recognize the economic power of online retail is a good start.

Too often, consumers go to stores to pick out products yet avoid paying sales tax by purchasing the product from out of state on their smartphone.

Underscoring the point are sales figures from Cyber Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving tends to be the biggest online shopping day, offering a powerful economic indicator for Internet-based retail.

Online sales among some of the largest U.S. retailers on Cyber Monday jumped 30 percent, compared with Cyber Monday 2011, according to data compiled by IBM’s Smarter Commerce arm, which surveys 500 online retailers.

Despite more than a decade of unsuccessful attempts to fix this problem, recent signs point to bipartisan congressional agreement on the issue.

A subset of Congress bent on blocking anything that remotely resembles a tax increase should put their fears to rest. Collecting sales tax on Internet sales is not a new tax, but rather taxes that should have been paid all along.

Technically, people who purchase goods from out-of-state sellers that aren’t taxed owe a use tax. Few buyers pay it.

But the practice is a hemorrhage of tax revenue owed the state. The taxes are owed. Time to ensure they are paid.

— Seattle Times

Staring old age in the eyes and laughing, the Rolling Stones rocked a London crowd of 20,000 recently, reminding anyone who has even just tolerated their blues-influenced pop and shamelessly commercial music of the raw power of rock-and-roll. And this on their 50th anniversary tour.

The theatrical Mick Jagger swiveled his hips a little less quickly and wasn’t quite as acrobatic as when he satisfied crowds in Philadelphia’s old JFK Stadium 31 years ago, or at the equally vintage Live Aid concert, when he danced with Tina Turner. But the videos circulating on the Web show a defiant Jagger. At 69, he still is bursting with the peerless, in-your-face exuberance that defined the genre.

They opened with an old Beatles song, “I Wanna Be Your Man,” as if to settle the “Beatles or Stones” argument. On that tune, at least, the Beatles win.

At one point, Jagger, clad in skin-tight black jeans and T-shirt, took a break to say, “It’s amazing we’re still doing this, and it’s amazing that you’re still buying our records and coming to our shows.” They played past curfew and may be fined. That’s the nature of the game, isn’t it?

The name of the critically acclaimed production is “50 and Counting.” But at their age — the oldest, drummer Charlie Watts, is 71 — it’s more like 50 and flaunting.

The Stones are scheduled to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Newark’s Prudential Center next month. Chances are rock’s original bad boys will be there. Time seems to be on their side.

— Philadelphia Inquirer