Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho economists say state revenues didn't spike during the first month of collecting online sales tax on internet purchases from Amazon.
Earlier this year, the giant e-commerce company announced it had struck a deal with the Idaho State Tax Commission to begin collecting sales tax from Amazon shoppers in Idaho. This prompted several state lawmakers to estimate the deal could result in a big revenue boost.
However, in a recent revenue report, the Division of Financial Management found that sales tax receipts came in only .8 percent higher than what economists originally projected for May — or around $842 million more. Economists finalized the projections for fiscal year 2017 before the Amazon deal was announced.
Jani Revier, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's budget director, says it's still too early to determine if Amazon sales tax revenue will help funnel significantly more money to Idaho.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
