Massachusetts watchdog group warns against daily tax remittances proposed in Gov. Charlie Baker’s fiscal 2021 budget

MassLive ^

[matt04]

The need for state revenue during a pandemic-driven recession shouldn’t convince lawmakers to adopt the daily retail tax remittance schedule proposed under Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget plan, a fiscal watchdog group says.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said in a position paper released Tuesday an accelerated sales tax remittance schedule proposed by both Baker and the House is a straightforward way to bring in $267 million in one-time revenue, but cautioned against putting the state on track to collect tax revenue daily from retailers. The details would be up to state regulators, not the Legislature.

“Despite the many challenges caused by the pandemic, we should not use it as an excuse to enact bad public policy,” MTF states. “Daily remittance wasn’t a good idea when it was first introduced in 2017, and it remains a bad idea now.”

Baker, who has repeatedly proposed such a system, included a sales tax modernization plan in his revised fiscal 2021 budget. Both he and House leaders proposed making businesses that collect more than $150,000 in sales tax a year remit those taxes in the last week of the month, rather than the third week of the following month.

Baker’s plan differs from the House proposal in that it would require other businesses to jump on board by 2024, expecting payment processors to capture sales tax for electronic payments at the moment a product is purchased.

Massachusetts would be the only state with such a system if the governor’s provisions were adopted, MTF says.

A daily remittance schedule would mean retailers have to spend money on the payment processors and likely have to pay fees so the processors can automatically transfer the tax revenue to the state, according to MTF.

[matt04]

So try to kill all the small businesses with absurd rules while every big box store can, with relative ease, update their accounting software and automate most of the work, something small businesses won't be able to.

[vigilante2]

Charlie Faker should be looking into voter fraud in the state

[Vermont Lt]

Yeah...small business owners are going to submit remittances every day. Quarterly was a pain in the ass.