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Perrin: Arkansas, Jonesboro can benefit from SCOTUS internet sales tax ruling

Talk Business and Politics

After a recent United States Supreme Court ruling, the City of Jonesboro will be closely watching next year’s legislative session in Little Rock.  

Last month, the High Court ruled that cities and states can collect sales taxes from online purchases.  It was seen as a victory for brick-and-mortar stores and for some states that say they have missed on billions of dollars in annual revenue. 

Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin has said previously that not paying internet sales taxes is “tax evasion”.  Perrin says he is pushing for the General Assembly to take this issue up during next year’s legislative session in Little Rock. 

He says he wants legislators to pass the ruling as is in Arkansas.  Perrin says there is a potential for hundreds of millions of dollars annually to come to Arkansas, with Jonesboro receiving a portion of those funds.  

He says the Department of Finance and Administration will determine how the funds would be distributed to cities after legislators pass a bill. 

Perrin used Alabama as an example.  Alabama has collected internet sales tax and last year received $382-million.  Of that money, 60% went to cities and 40% went to counties. 

Perrin says he would like to see sales taxes distributed according to zip codes that online purchases were made.  

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.