This Bill passed the Senate 24-1, but did not reach the House floor for a vote.
Libertas Institute opposes this bill.
Recently, the Utah Tax Commission entered into an agreement with the online retailer, Amazon, to give a percentage of Utah sales tax to Amazon if they would collect and remit the sales tax on behalf of the state for the state. The full terms of the agreement are being kept secret from the public, but we will continue to fight for their release.
For those companies who are unwilling to enter into these types of agreements, Senator Wayne Harper is advocating for a draconian method to force more people to pay internet sales tax. Senate bill 83 requires that companies who sell more than $500 worth of merchandise to a Utah customer provide the state with a statement of the customer’s name, billing and shipping address, and the total dollar amount of the sales. This essentially turns out-of-state companies into tattle-tales.
In the past Libertas has written and fought against previous attempts to levy a “remote” aka internet sales tax. Legislators continue to withhold guarantees that they will lower the overall sales tax rate to match the revenue received by levying taxes on internet sales from out-of-state companies. In addition, these legislators want to turn private companies into tax police for the state of Utah. This is an egregious overreach into the marketplace and must be opposed.
