North Carolina and its local governments, like most other states, are losing hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax revenues annually. We need your help in supporting this amendment, so please make your calls soon.
Federal e-fairness legislation would close the sales tax loophole once and for all, ending the government-sanctioned advantage that online-only retailers have over local businesses. If passed, this e-fairness amendment would:
- Allow states to require online-only retailers to play by the same rules as local, brick and mortar businesses;
- Allow local businesses to compete fairly;
- Strengthen local economies still struggling through a sluggish recovery.
Currently in North Carolina, mail-order products are often purchased with no sales tax being charged. By law the customer must then calculate the sales tax and pay it when his state income taxes are filed. According to the N.C. Department of Revenue, only about 2 percent of filers include mail-order sales taxes, generating about $5 million.
A University of Tennessee study estimated in 2009 that North Carolina's online shoppers owed the state $130.4 million in sales taxes. The study predicted the state would see $213.8 million in uncollected taxes from online sales in 2012.
In 2010, the N.C. Department of Revenue tried to force Amazon.com to turn over records of customer purchases so it could collect sales taxes from the customers. It was stopped by a federal judge.