Sales Tax Blog
Strange State Laws (Concerning Sales Tax and Other Things)
While most people are aware of how their state law applies to them in various situations they’re likely to encounter in their everyday lives, these laws have to be built to accommodate all eventualities. This can lead to some strange interpretations and applications of statutes, as well as some interesting stand-alone policies. Some of these reflect the interests of special groups, but many are just the result of a common-sense idea that was extended to an absurd degree. Groceries vs Prepared Foods One source of confusion for states involves determining exactly what the difference is between groceries and prepared foods…. Read More
Is Massachusetts’ Cookie Tax Half-Baked?
As retail patterns have shifted away from in-person purchases in brick-and-mortar stores towards online shopping, states have been struggling with how to recoup the sales tax revenue lost to those online sales. That was the driving force behind several moves the government of Massachusetts made recently to try and compel out-of-state retailers with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit sales tax on purchases made by Massachusetts customers. Directive 17-1 The current regulation was the result of a court challenge to the state’s initial attempt at collecting sales tax from online sellers. This was Directive 17-1, and… Read More