Online Sales Changing the Tax Game

Nine in 10 retailers are expected to offer online deals today, Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation. Those deals are expected to push online sales to $32 billion during the holiday season, up more than 10% from last year.

Numbers like these should have retailers salivating, and encourage state and local governments hoping to fill some gaping holes in their budgets caused by revenue shortages from the past few years.

Forty-five states rely on sales taxes on goods and services as part of their annual state budgets; the exceptions are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. Rates range from 4% to 8.25% at the state level, with local additions boosting rates to over 10% in some municipalities. That should translate into a combined boost of over $1 billion in sales taxes for those states that do charge sales taxes -- not a bad haul by any standards.