NASHVILLE (AP) — A group representing brick-and-mortar stores says forgone tax collections from online sales are costing Tennessee more than 6,000 jobs.
The Alliance for Main Street Fairness has been a vocal opponent of the state's agreement to waive the requirement for online retailer Amazon.com to collect sales taxes on items sold through distributions centers being built in Tennessee.
A University of Tennessee study has projected that the state loses $411 million in sales taxes from items sold online. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that every million dollars spent by state and local governments supports about 15 jobs.
Monday's report multiplies those two figures to conclude that collecting the sales tax on online sales would result in at least 6,200 jobs, earning a total of $260 million in annual wages.