Study: S.C. losing about $100 million each year in uncollected Internet taxes

Image by Flickr user Amit Gupta

If you buy something from an online retailer you generally don't have to pay the tax at the checkout, but are supposed to pay the "use tax" on your annual state taxes.

Of course many people don't, and a recent study from the University of Tennessee said that lack of compliance caused South Carolina to lose out on $94 million last year and may lose out on $110 million next year.

But our state doesn't have plans to start auditing your Amazon.com records, instead they're joining a host of other states to look at how federal law can be changed to allow South Carolina to tax out-of-state merchants.

The Greenville News has a nice rundown about what's up; read it here.

It's an idea that sounds simple on its head -- until you realize that if you sell things online, you'd have to start worrying about tax laws in 50 different states.

Filed in