The days when you sat behind your browser, quickly picked the items you wanted buy, placed them in your virtual basket and checked out without paying sales tax could soon be a thing of the past.

With the looming recession and increased state budget deficits; governments increasingly want to fill the gaps by collecting taxes on Internet sales, which are growing even as the economy battles challenges.

Conflicts are now being sparked with companies that do business online only and have enjoyed being able to offer sales-tax free shopping.

One of the most aggressive states, New York, is being sued by Amazon.com Inc. over a new requirement that online companies must collect taxes on shipments to New York residents, even if the companies are located elsewhere. New York's governor also wants to tax Taxman covers and other songs downloaded from Internet services like iTunes.

Online sales make up approximately 8 percent of all retail sales. According to research in 2008 the figure tallied $204 billion. If taxes were charged on this, an additional $3 billion could be generated for governments.

New York Free