Online Purchases In New York Will Soon Cost More

New Yorkers won't find lower prices online for much longer as the marketplace provider tax was passed the NYS Budget.

Starting this June (according to WNYT), all in-store and online purchases made by a New York resident will be charged sales tax. President and CEO of the New York State Retail Council Ted Potrikus told WNYT, News Channel 13:

"The mechanisms and now are in place that will require us to pay the sales tax that we should've been paying all along...So really what consumers need to know is that the tax advantage that existed on the internet by shopping out of state has been if not outright eliminated then substantially reduced."

Potrikus said closing the marketplace loophole is expected to bring NYS about $280 million. New Yorkers have been paying sales tax on Amazon and eBay orders since 2008.

NYS Budget: Eliminate the Internet Tax Advantage: The Enacted Budget will provide a consistent framework for the collection of required sales taxes by internet marketplace providers, which is expected to annually generate $160 million in new revenue for local governments and $320 million for the MTA capital plan lockbox, supporting up to $5 billion in financing for the MTA. New York's brick and mortar retailers have been at a disadvantage because many online retail competitors are not collecting sales tax. This unequal treatment is unfair to the retailers who do collect sales tax, the customers who pay sales tax, the public at large which is forsaking State and local revenues, and the people who depend on the public services supported by those revenues. This proposal ensures that out-of-state merchants do not have a price advantage over our State's retail community.

Well. is this a good thing or a bad thing? Let us know in the comments below.

[Information from NYS and WNYT, News Channel 13]