The Tax Foundation has a report out today on a recent Connecticut Supreme Court case that found teachers are the legal equivalent of salesmen for Scholastic, the in-school bookseller.
According to the report, co-authored by former Yankee Institute intern Jordan King, the state Department of Revenue Services is seeking more than $3 million in back sales taxes from the company.
From the report:
States are becoming increasingly aggressive about expanding nexus standards beyond their borders as budgets get tighter and the desire to find new revenue increases. Moreover, the precedent thus far in these Scholastic cases suggests a bleak future for remote sellers seeking to do business across state lines.
Perhaps then a percentage of Scholastic Entertainment could be co-opted by municipalities that are experiencing issues making ends meet in order to use the profits for meeting expenses without further hitting tax-increase weary constituents- that is is addressing budget woes is actually a priority. Personally I think that rhetoric about belt tightening is no more than that- rhetoric- whose purpose is to fool a perceived as gullible taxpayer into accepting the fantasy premise that their government isn’t busy scheming of clever new ways to reach deeper into the pockets of those who cannot afford it.