Nassau Comptroller urges NYS to collect online sales tax

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The Nassau County Comptroller has joined local businesses in advocating for New York State to begin collecting sales tax from out-of-state Internet vendors, as his analysis has shown the sales tax revenue could generate more than $90 million a year for Long Island.

Comptroller Jack Schnirman said that if state lawmakers take advantage of a recent Supreme Court ruling by forcing out-of-state online vendors to pay sales tax, it could level the playing field for mom-and-pop shops and help alleviate the tax burden on local residents.

A June 21 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, now permits states to mandate a sales tax for items purchased online from out-of-state retailers. If New York State opts in, it would better allow local businesses to compete with online retail sites that currently don’t have to collect sales tax on online purchases.

Analysis by Schnirman’s office shows that sales taxes collected from Internet retail sales is becoming a larger portion of its overall collection total. It also showed that the “year-over-year growth” in retail sales has “consistently outpaced that of the brick and mortar stores.”

“New York State’s outdated tax laws have allowed an unfair playing field for our local businesses,” Schnirman said. “Our new analysis shows this problem will only get worse in the years to come if no action is taken. If local businesses are forced to close or cut back staff due to this effect, the loss of jobs would have devastating impacts on our communities.”

Sales tax is the leading source of revenue for Nassau County — 39.5 percent of the major operating funds in the 2018 NIFA-conformed budget, totaling $1.183 billion dollars — according to a release put out by Schnirman.

Also in Schnirman’s news release was a statistic from the Long Island Regional Planning Council, which said that Long Island could generate $92 million yearly from Internet sales tax and that such revenue could help alleviate high property taxes and in turn encourage business growth and home ownership.

“If the legislature is to return to Albany for a special session this fall, this item must be on the agenda,” Schnirman said.