Sales tax overhaul is delayed

Businesses will have another year to prepare for an overhaul of the sales tax system.

Legislators unanimously delayed the implementation of the streamlined sales tax, an expected move and the sole purpose of Monday's special legislative session. Originally supposed to go into effect on Thursday, the new sales tax collection method will become a reality on July 1, 2005.

The decision to delay was prompted by complaints from merchants, especially small businesses who deliver goods throughout the state, who said that they still lacked the accounting systems and training necessary to meet the Thursday deadline. Part of the problem is that private firms have not had enough time to develop software, since the details of the tax were not finalized until earlier this year.

"The tools needed by our members to implement the streamlined sales tax, especially for the small businesses, are not ready," Jim Olsen, president of the Utah Retail Merchants Association, said. "To go forward without the tool becomes a very burdensome proposition."

The streamlined sales tax is a national effort by states to capture Internet and catalog sales by imposing sales taxes based on where a consumer receives a purchased good. Delivered items are charged a sales tax based on the statewide 4.75 percent tax plus local sales taxes, which include a 1 percent local option and special taxes for transit, tourism or resorts.

Since all 97 cities and counties that collect taxes charge the 1 percent local option tax, the only difference for consumers will be if they live in an area with special taxes. For example, if a Park City resident were to purchase a couch at a Salt Lake furniture store and have it delivered, they would pay the additional 1 percent Park City resort tax, but they would not have to pay the transit or Zoo, Arts and Parks taxes that Salt Lake County imposes.

Legislators plan to analyze business transactions that would now be subject to sales tax because of the streamlined tax, such as the postage that printers sell to customers or the fees charged for the installation of household goods. Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, said that the intent of those new taxes is simplify the system by eliminating exemptions, but that the state does have to utilize all of the options available.

"The streamlined sales tax is a huge toolbox, and we'll be able to go through and chose which tools to use," he said.

But even the measure's initial sponsor, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said the effort to "simplify" is anything but.

"People ask, 'What in the world is so streamlined about the streamlined sales tax?' It is so complicated," he told fellow senators on Monday.