Starting Thursday, more online companies will add the Michigan sales tax to purchases made by Michigan customers.
Online retail giant Amazon is among the companies that will add the 6% tax to their bills.
Tom Scott with the Michigan Retailers Association says compelling online companies with a presence in Michigan to charge the sales tax is a matter of fairness.
“They had a built-in 6% price advantage over our Michigan companies because they’d not been required to collect our Michigan sales tax,” says Scott.
Even with the new law, the state will still be missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in uncollected sales tax dollars, unless Michigan taxpayers voluntarily self-report as they’re required to do on their state income tax form.
Michigan estimates $445 million in sales and use tax revenue from remote purchases went uncollected this fiscal year. The law could ensure Michigan receives $60 million more.
