Copyright 2000 The Times-Picayune Publishing Co.
The Times-Picayune
February 24, 2000 Thursday, WEST BANK
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B1
LENGTH: 291 words
HEADLINE:
LEE FEARS FOR TAXES AS ONLINE SALES RISE
BYLINE: By Pam
Louwagie West Bank bureau
BODY:
Looking into his
new digital camera, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee sees how Internet sales
can hurt local government.
Lee said he recently bought a new camera off
the World Wide Web for $214 less than he would have paid if he bought it at a
local store, partly because he saved $87.06 in local and state sales taxes.
And as chief tax collector in Jefferson Parish, Lee brought the debate
over tax-free Internet sales into the
Jefferson Parish Council chambers on Wednesday.
Of the sales
taxes he would have paid on his camera, Lee said nearly $40 would have
gone to the state, $19 would have gone to the School Board, $16 to the parish
and $6.63 to his Sheriff's Office.
While Internet sales account for
about only 1 percent of retail sales now, experts say, they are expected to rise
drastically.
Lee estimates that if online sales grow to account for 10
percent of retail sales, as they are expected to do within the next decade, the
parish could lose $35 million annually.
"This is very frightening," Lee
told the council. "This hit is going to be inevitable unless we get Congress to
do something."
Officials say it's impossible to measure the Internet's
effects on local government revenues now. Nobody knows how much locals are
buying from Internet sites.
Parish President Tim Coulon
has said sales tax revenue has actually gone up in the parish
in recent years. But the threat of the Internet is still a concern for
government officials, he said.
"We have the capacity to be substantially
impacted because of our dependence on sales tax," Coulon said.
After
Lee's appearance, the council drafted and adopted a resolution urging
Louisiana's congressional delegation to end the moratorium on taxing electronic
commerce.
LOAD-DATE: February 26, 2000
