By Wednesday, at least a dozen large cities and other entities are expected to become parties to the City of Tuscaloosa’s lawsuit over how hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax revenue from online purchases are collected and distributed to government bodies.

And more than 100 smaller municipalities, along with every county in the state, are expected to line up with the Alabama Department of Revenue in defending the tax system, asking a Montgomery Circuit Court Judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

The rush of local governments intervening in the lawsuit speaks to the significance of the Simplified Sellers Use Tax, one of the state’s youngest but fastest-growing revenue streams, and to concerns over what a court-ordered change in its distribution would mean.

On Monday, Sonny Brasfield, th

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