For 2306 - a look at fiscal policy, the sales tax, local government, and the Comptroller.
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Sometimes, the best way to challenge something is to notice it.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has proposed a change in the state’s tax rules that could scramble how online sales taxes are collected across the state. Under current law, local taxes on the things Texans buy online go to cities where the sellers are — or say they are. And those tax proceeds are often split by the cities and the companies. In other words, some companies are collecting sales taxes and then getting a portion of them back because they have a deal with a particular city.
If that sounds like a mutation of “Buy Local,” you’re thinking like Hegar.
“Nobody knows about this,” Hegar says. “This is taxation without representation.”
He has proposed sending the tax money from online sales to the buyer’s location, booting up a discussion that might eventually blossom into a reconsideration of how sales taxes work in Texas.
Right now, it’s stirred confusion. It’s also brought some light to a longstanding practice that doesn’t sit right with some voters — especially if you tag it with slogans like “taxation without representation.”
For more: Analysis: A Texas sales tax rule hinges on a question: What’s local?
