Online sales-tax measure doesn't click with local sellers

The overall issue of whether sales tax should be charged for online purchases has surfaced in the past. Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, now the U.S. health and human services secretary, strongly pushed for it while he was head of the National Governors Association.

Leavitt, who called the sales-tax system "a mess," wanted to see the money collected from online purchases and for states to reach a common language on what gets taxed.

Utah's Legislature agreed to be part of the Streamlined Sales Tax governing board, which was created to establish uniform definitions and make the overall sales-tax system simpler for businesses. Since 2005, 22 states have been working together on the project.

Congress would still need to approve a law so that states agreeing to the streamlined tax could require businesses not located in their state to pay sales taxes for online purchases, which Enzi and Delahunt hope to accomplish through their bills.

Utah Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, was recently appointed to the board. Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, and Utah State Tax Commissioner R. Bruce Johnson also are members.

Bramble said he supports a streamlined tax, but there are still unanswered questions about how a tax would be applied. For someone purchasing a CD online, how do you define the tax where the purchaser is located? With the 7,500 taxing jurisdictions throughout the nation and without simplifying the tax codes, it would put the burden on businesses to figure out how to apply the tax.

There is also a question of whether the rules would apply to all businesses or just those in streamline streamlined agreement states. Bramble said he would prefer that businesses in the 22 streamline streamlined agreement states only be affected by a change in the law.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com