{"id":2775,"date":"2011-12-14T12:54:55","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T18:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2012-12-20T10:12:29","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:12:29","slug":"most-oklahoma-tax-filers-don%e2%80%99t-pay-unenforceable-use-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2011\/12\/14\/most-oklahoma-tax-filers-don%e2%80%99t-pay-unenforceable-use-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Oklahoma Tax Filers Don\u2019t Pay &#8216;Unenforceable&#8217; Use Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2783\" class=\"module image center mceTemp\" style=\"width: 620px;\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-empty.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2783\" title=\"Oklahoma Use Tax\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-empty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-empty.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-empty-500x164.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-empty-150x49.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-empty-300x98.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ NPR StateImpact<\/p>\n<\/div><p>When Oklahomans shop, they\u2019re supposed to pay taxes.<\/p><p>It\u2019s easy in person: Brick-and-mortar retailers collect sales taxes on each purchase. But when Oklahomans order from catalogs and television networks, or click-and-buy online \u2014 they owe \u201cuse taxes.\u201d<\/p><p>Consumer use taxes in Oklahoma are self-levied. It\u2019s an honor system.<\/p><p>Norm Bekoff of Oklahoma City said he doesn\u2019t bother.<\/p><p>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re taxed enough as it is,&#8221; he told StateImpact Oklahoma in an interview from downtown Oklahoma City.<\/p><p>He\u2019s in good company: About 96 percent of all Oklahoma tax filers.<\/p><p><!--more-->Oklahoma\u2019s sales and use taxes are similar \u2014 on paper.<\/p><p>Items purchased from out-of-state vendors are subject to a 4.5 percent use tax. Like sales taxes, additional county and city taxes may also be levied.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignleft\">\n<h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4>\n<div class=\"links\">\n<h5>Posts<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2011\/11\/17\/okc-retailers-in-d-c-to-push-internet-sales-tax-bill\/\">OKC Retailers in D.C. to Push Internet Sales Tax\u00a0Bill<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2011\/12\/02\/three-small-biz-experts-agree-on-internet-tax-split-on-income-tax\/\">Three Small Biz Experts Agree on Internet Tax, Split on Income Tax<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"topics\">\n<h5>Topics<\/h5>\n<p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/11\/computer-moneyTN-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/topic\/internet-tax\/\">All About the Internet Tax in Oklahoma<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><p>It\u2019s on line No. 20 of the individual income tax return form, where it&#8217;s been for five years. The Oklahoma Tax Commission even <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.oktax.onenet.net\/usetax\/makepayment.php\">makes it easy<\/a> to pay online.<\/p><p>But most Oklahomans aren\u2019t paying use taxes, data from the Oklahoma Tax Commission show.<\/p><p>About 1.6 million individual income tax returns are filed each year, said commission spokeswoman Paula Ross. But over the last five years, only 55,000 taxpayers on average \u2014 less than 4 percent \u2014 declared use taxes when filing their annual income tax forms with the state, the data show.<\/p><p>\u201cYou mean nobody\u2019s volunteering to pay more taxes? I can\u2019t <em>believe<\/em> that,\u201d Bekoff quipped. \u201cThat\u2019s <em>shocking<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s the Use?<\/h3><p>Beyond making it easier for taxpayers to pay what they owe, there\u2019s not much the Tax Commission can do, Ross admits.<\/p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a very unenforceable tax, there\u2019s no doubt about that,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>But the Internet is changing everything.<\/p><p>[module align=&#8221;right&#8221; width=&#8221;half&#8221; type=&#8221;pull-quote&#8221;]<\/p><p>\u201cPeople are somewhat starting to realize that it is their communities that are suffering.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h6>-Paula Ross, Oklahoma Tax Commission spokeswoman<\/h6><p>[\/module]<\/p><p>Oklahomans spent more than $2.9 billion online in 2007, according to a University of Tennessee study, and that number is growing.<\/p><p>Using figures from the study, the Tax Commission <a href=\"http:\/\/newsok.com\/online-retail-sales-costing-oklahoma-millions-each-year\/article\/3610360?custom_click=lead_story_title&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StatelineorgRss-Oklahoma+%28Stateline.org+RSS+-+Oklahoma%29&utm_content=Google+Reader\">estimates<\/a> that Oklahoma is losing $185 million to $225 million in uncollected state and local taxes.<\/p><p>For states to capture future revenues from online transactions, they can\u2019t rely on taxpayers to tax themselves. But making the use tax function like a sales tax is complicated.<\/p><p>Each state has its own laws and tax statutes, which poses a challenge to out-of-state online retailers.<\/p><p>State and local governments want the revenue, and brick-and-mortar retailers say a uniform method for collecting \u201cinternet taxes\u201d will close a loophole they say gives their online and out-of-state competition a leg up.<\/p><p>Backed by lawmakers, the State Chamber and other business organizations, Oklahoma\u2019s brick-and-mortar retailers <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2011\/10\/05\/ok%E2%80%99s-cost-of-online-buying-185-225-million-in-%E2%80%98avoided%E2%80%99-use-tax\/\">visited Washington, D.C.<\/a> to put pressure on state congressional delegates \u2014 and even President Barack Obama \u2014 to adopt the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would make it easier for states to collect taxes for online purchases made by their residents.<\/p><p>A federal bill is the only way for the state to enforce the use tax and to collect the Internet tax in earnest, Ross said.<\/p><p>Use taxes increased in fiscal year 2011, as did the number of taxpayers who remitted the tax on their individual income tax forms, data show. But collections aren\u2019t on a solidly upward trend.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2779\" class=\"module image aligncenter mceTemp mceIEcenter\" style=\"width: 600px;\"><p><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-graph.png\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2779\" title=\"Number of Tax Returns with Use Tax Remittance\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-graph.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-graph.png 600w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-graph-500x309.png 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-graph-150x93.png 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2011\/12\/use-tax-graph-300x186.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">SOURCE: Oklahoma Tax Commission<\/p>\n<\/div><p>At least not yet, Ross said.<\/p><p>\u201cPeople are somewhat starting to realize that it is their communities that are suffering because they don\u2019t get the tax, whether it\u2019s the fire, police or roads in their cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Wertz \/ NPR StateImpact When Oklahomans shop, they\u2019re supposed to pay taxes.It\u2019s easy in person: Brick-and-mortar retailers collect sales taxes on each purchase. But when Oklahomans order from catalogs and television networks, or click-and-buy online \u2014 they owe \u201cuse taxes.\u201dConsumer use taxes in Oklahoma are self-levied. It\u2019s an honor system.Norm Bekoff of Oklahoma City [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":2790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[492,16],"tags":[201,31,202],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12141,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions\/12141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}