Sales tax

During a webinar Thursday moderated by the National League of Cities, officials pointed out that the South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. sales tax case has been remanded by the U.S. Supreme Court back to the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Congress might provide clarity by preventing states any state from imposing retroactive liability.

Membership in the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board is voluntary, but the Supreme Court ruling may serve as an impetus for more states and e-commerce retailers to join.

Texas maintained its torrid pace of sales tax collections in June with its sixth monthly record in 2018.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and co-sponsors of a recently offered bill want to prevent businesses in their states from being forced to collect sales taxes from e-commerce transactions.

With the need for Congressional action lessened, governors and state legislatures can focus on fine tuning their own laws, officials said.

Thursday's 5-4 ruling involves a 2016 law enacted by South Dakota requiring out-of-state e-commerce retailers to collect sales tax if they have more than 200 transactions annually or $100,000 in sales within the state.

The sales tax increase will bring in an extra $30 million to cover a projected $28 million budget shortfall.

States could gain $8 billion to $33.9 billion in additional annual revenue if the high court rules in favor of South Dakota, while a loss would mean the status quo.

Rvenue soar 10.2% in May compared to a year earlier, accompanied by strong growth in oil and gas income.

Tax administrators will consult with governors and governors, in turn, will consult with their legislatures before responding to any of several possible rulings in the case by the high court, officials said.

Many lawmakers in Congress have deferred to the high court on the issue in the belief that helping state and local governments collect sales tax for e-commerce might be construed as a new tax rather than an enforcement measure.

The justices and attorneys both sides in a case involving South Dakota all appeared to prefer action by Congress to regulate this area of interstate commerce that has been forced on the high court by legislative gridlock.

A high court ruling on online sales taxes that favors the states “could gradually improve long-term revenue growth prospects,” Fitch said.

Voters in Wisconsin also rejected a measure to abolish the state treasurer's office.

Surging sales tax revenue shows economic strength across several sectors, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar says.

Some states don't remit all of the sales tax funds that are due to local governments from e-commerce retailers.

The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of four senators weigh in on the states' ability to collect online sales taxes in friend-of-the-court briefs filed with the Supreme Court.

South Dakota, which has no state income tax and relies on sales and use taxes for much of its revenue, will make its oral arguments to the high court on April 17.

S&P Global Ratings is alerting municipal market investors that an expected increase in property tax challenges by big box retailers could put stress on municipal finances.