Arkansas lawmaker: Online taxes measure dead for the session

LITTLE ROCK— A proposal to force online retailers to collect Arkansas sales taxes failed for the third time before a House committee Tuesday, prompting a lawmaker sponsoring the measure to declare it dead for the session.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted 9-6 for the measure, two votes shy of the 11 needed to send the Senate-backed bill to the full House. Republican Rep. Dan Douglas afterward told reporters he doesn't plan to present the measure again before the Legislature wraps up its session next week.

"It's really disgusting to me that the members of the General Assembly do not care about fairness in our taxes in the state of Arkansas," Douglas told reporters after the vote. "We have submitted every one of our in-state, brick-and-mortar retailers to an unfair disadvantage by allowing these online retailers not to collect and remit sales tax."

The bill requires companies without a physical presence in Arkansas to collect and remit state sales taxes if their gross revenue is more than $100,000 or they have at least 200 transactions. If they don't collect and remit taxes, the companies would be required to send information about purchases made by Arkansas residents to the state.

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2017/mar/29/arkansas-lawmaker-online-taxes-measure-dead-session/667458/