Online retailing came of age during the White House tenure of George W. Bush whose hands-off move towards to business meant Washington’s policies had small effect on e-commerce. That is likely to change with Barack Obama as president.

In part that’s because Obama has pledged action on a number of issues affecting e-commerce, including online privacy and extending broadband Internet access. But the bigger reason is that the economic crisis has led government, even before Bush left office, to take a more activist position.

Obama also wants to ensure the states can pay their bills. And that is likely to bring to the fore in the coming months the issue most likely to change Internet retailing: an online sales tax.