CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Groups representing West Virginia’s business community support the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing states to collect sales tax from retailers involved in online purchases.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday states can order online retailers to pay sales taxes. Online retail has grown at the expense of physical stores.
West Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Steve Roberts said Friday on MetroNews “Talkline” if state leaders chose to begin the collection, it could mean real money for West Virginia.
“We collect $1.3 billion in state sales taxes in West Virginia,” he said. “If this would increase collections by 20 percent, that’s almost $16 million.”
Roberts said this amount is up in the air, but it could be enough additional revenue to make a difference.
“One report says West Virginia stands to have the second-biggest gain on a percentage basis in the country by collecting on online sales,” he said.
One person not in favor of the ruling is Gov. Jim Justice; he said Thursday in a statement Thursday he might have supported the additional taxes if the state when the state was struggling financially, but not right now.
“This is an issue for the Legislature, and legislation would have to be passed to authorize the state to enforce the collection of out-of-state sales taxes. With our state’s growing economy, I don’t want to reach into West Virginians’ pockets when we don’t need to,” he said.
Bridgett Lambert, the executive director of the West Virginia Retailers Association, said she was not sure if Justice understands the impact of the ruling.
“We’d love to sit down with him and talk about this and educate him about the fairness of it,” she said on “Talkline.”
Lambert added she supported the Supreme Court’s decision because it makes shopping fairer from the perspective of businesses.
“We have merchants on every street corner from main street to the mall in West Virginia that are competing in an unfair playing field,” she said.