If you’re supposed to pay a tax and you don’t, is it a tax increase when the state forces you to pay the tax you owe? To hear one Senator argue the point, it is.
At issue is a bill setting up a system to collect Missouri sales taxes on items bought and sold through the internet, or from out-of-state catalogues or out-of-state stores Sponsors say brick and mortar retailers are at a disadvantage because they have to collect sales taxes but internet merchants don’t.
Senator Jason Crowell of Cape Girardeau, who says he buys a lot of things on the internet and never pays taxes on them, argues with Senator Gary Nodler of Joplin that the bill requiring him to pay sales taxes would be a tax increase. Crowell and Nodler argue :26 mp3
The bill does not establish any new taxes. But it does set up a mechanism for the state to collect state sales taxes that sponsors say people should be paying.
The sponsor of the bill says Missouri loses 160-million dollars a year because people like Crowell buy things on the internet and don’t pay sales taxes on them.
The senate plans more debate on the bill later.