Online tax payment

Online tax paymentTwo recent polls on online sales tax highlight the fact that a lot of misinformation is circulating about online sales tax collection. The first poll, from the International Council of Shopping Centers, found that two-thirds of U.S. consumers in states with sales tax are unaware that sales tax is due on online purchases: Sixty-four percent of U.S. consumers in states that require their residents to pay a sales tax on purchases either do not know or do not believe they are required to pay sales tax on Internet purchases if not collected by the vendor, according to a new survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). . . . Consumer compliance with the use tax payment on

online purchases is generally low. A key reason for this, as the ICSC study found, is that consumers expect the vendor to collect sales taxes if they owe them. The poll results include several other fascinating findings—among them, that “93% of consumers would continue to shop online if taxes were collected at the point of purchase” and “more than 50% of respondents cited ‘price’ as the most important factor when making a purchase”—and we recommend you review the complete results. The second poll actually, and inadvertently, demonstrates the results of the first poll. Conducted July 6-17, 2011,

the latest USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll shows 46 percent of voters favoring the online sales tax as a revenue source to help balance the budget and pay for state services. Forty-nine percent opposed the measure, which would raise taxes and could hurt local businesses who sell products through online retailers such as Amazon.com. “At this point, Californians are evenly divided on whether online purchases should be taxed. This could be one of the most expensive campaigns in California history, and neither side starts with a clear advantage,” said Dan Schnur, director of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll and director of the Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.

Online tax payment