Even as the state anxiously awaits the sales tax revenue to come in from Christmas sales, it knows it won’t get all it should get. That’s because more and more people are buying things on the Internet and that isn’t good news for State Revenue Director Carol Fischer. And that is robbing tax coffers of needed money. A recent study puts the estimated loss at $261 Million in 2001. Fischer believes it will be even worse in 2002. Fischer says other states have the same problem and are appealing to Congress, which has indicated it will crackdown on Internet companies IF the states streamline their collection methods. Many companies complain the wide variety of sales tax structures among the states make collection and remittance burdensome. She says until the situation changes, Missouri retailers find themselves at a disadvantage, charging a tax that Internet retailers simply ignore.
