Abstract

In this stagnant economy, brick and mortar retailers (brick and mortars) are voicing increasingly strong objections to the current state of online tax collection considering they must always collect state sales tax. Due in part to this uneven playing field, brick and mortars lose thousands of dollars a day in sales to online retailers. States, too, are losing revenue in the form of unpaid use taxes and, like the brick and mortars, are proponents of legislation allowing states to require online retailers to collect sales tax from their customers. Proponents of federal legislation on this issue point to the fact that sales tax revenues currently amount to approximately $150 billion annually and constitute about one-third of state revenues, making federal action a matter of fiscal responsibility. Conversely, opponents temper these numbers by citing data that the sales tax due for all consumer e-commerce is only 0.5% of total state and local tax revenue.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

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