Internet sales tax
Michael Silence reports that the effort to tax internet sales has been slowed by opposition. Good. The article:
Plans to allow states such as Tennessee tax Internet sales are still a long way off – good news for online shoppers but bad news for a state losing billions in sales taxes.
They’re not losing money. It’s money that was never earned. Some stats:
In Tennessee alone, nearly $500 million is not collected each year in sales taxes on Internet shopping. That’s almost enough to cover a shortfall in the state’s expanded Medicaid program, which the governor has proposed cutting by 323,000 people.
Across the country, more than $21 billion in sales tax is not being collected, according to a University of Tennessee study.
When the Supreme Court decided 13 years ago to exempt mail-order businesses from the tangled web of various state and local tax codes, no one envisioned Internet commerce exceeding $1 trillion.
I see mentioning TennCare and taxes in the same sentence has started early this year.
April 25th, 2005 at 11:25 am
The argument that taxes could be easily collected, because the technology is there has not come up. I wonder if it will.
Though I do not see this law chaning for sometime because of the supreme court decsion.
April 25th, 2005 at 2:02 pm
The article implies that the Supreme Court should undertake an economic impact assessment before it rules on the constitutionality of a law.
Pretty pathetic.
April 25th, 2005 at 3:19 pm
MSM uses the same phrasing for “losing … taxes” as they do for “assault weapons” – the wrong phrasing….
April 26th, 2005 at 1:44 am
I think its a matter of fairness…local retailers are priced higher than online retailers due to the local ones having to charge tax.