DMA Disputes "Lost Taxes" Numbers

DaveAtFraud writes "The Direct Marketing association (DMA) has released a study (PDF only) showing that the amount of tax revenue supposedly 'lost' by the states due to on-line sales has been significantly overstated. Proponents of online taxes quote several University of Tennessee studies which found states missed out on $13.3 billion in 2001 collections. In contrast to UT's claim, the DMA's study says the figure was closer to $1.9 billion. And while UT finds states could be stiffed by $55 billion in 2011, the DMA claims it's more like $4.5 billion. You get the picture (I wonder where UT gets its funding? It wouldn't be the state of Tennessee by any chance would it?). The DMA study points out flawed growth assumptions and outright falsehoods (e.g., counting certain business-to-business transactions that actually did create tax revenue for the state in its count of missed taxes) in the UT studies that cast a shadow of doubt on the UT studies' validity."

Comments

Bias

[_Splat]

For all the claims of UT being biased, realize that the DMA has a significant interest in there NOT being taxes on out-of-state sales.