Georgia County Government - Fall 2016 - 23

REGULATION taxes should be collected on the transaction. However, due to the standards set in a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, states have been stymied in their ability to collect sales tax on remote-sale transactions. In that case, North Dakota's tax commissioner-current U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp- sought to require Quill Corporation to collect sales taxes on office equipment and supplies that it shipped into the state. Quill Corporation was incorporated in Delaware and did not have a physical presence or any of its workforce in North Dakota. It fulfilled customer orders in North Dakota solely by shipping its products through a third-party carrier. On these facts, the Supreme Court ruled against the state, holding that North Dakota could not require the company to collect taxes on its sales to North Dakota residents and businesses. Thus, the ruling limits states to requiring collection of sales tax only by retailers that have a physical presence in, or some other sufficient "nexus" to, the state. If the state cannot demonstrate that such a nexus exists with the seller, according to the Supreme Court, the state may not force the seller to collect taxes on its sales in the state. Acknowledging the rigid formality of this rule, the Supreme Court noted that its holding in Quill "created a safe harbor for vendors 'whose only connection to the [taxing] state is by common carrier or United States mail.'" Noting that this rule appears "artificial at its edges," the court acknowledged that "it is not unlikely that the mail-order industry's dramatic growth over the last quarter century is due in large part to the bright-line exemption from state taxation" created by the court's precedents. Quill was decided in 1992. The internet boom and the advent of e-commerce that followed only magnified the ability of remote retailers to reach customers without being required to charge sales tax. Even before the development of digital products, the growth of online retail sales began to exert pressure on local merchants and state and local sales tax revenue due to their acceptance by the public as a convenient alternative to catalogs or in-store shopping. Take the most prominent example, Amazon. com, Inc. The company was launched in 1994, largely as an online bookseller. It quickly diversified into selling a wider array of products and, according to The New York Times, by July 2015 it had surpassed Wal-Mart as the most valued retailer in the United States, with a market valuation of $250 billion. Amazon's entry into the retail market proved to be a strong counter to traditional merchants, including big-box retailers that were once widely criticized for their impact on local retail markets. Following the end of the last recession in the United States, as online marketplaces became more entrenched, big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy struggled to recover their retail strength. At the time, Bloomberg reported one market analyst's belief that the biggest challenge for big boxes is increasing consumer confidence in making online purchases. These challenges to traditional retailers have only deepened due to the growth of services like Amazon Prime, which allows members to shop for products on demand, and receive their orders within one or two days in some locations. Amazon noted in a release earlier this year that membership in its Prime service had grown 51 percent in the last year. In light of these numbers, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos boasted at the Southern Living In Liberty County Since February 5, 1777 Liberty County offers a mix of old south tradition with advanced state of the art technology. Liberty County is not only blessed with an abundance of southern beauty, charm, and history, but it is blessed with being home to Fort Stewart and the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division. The fact that Liberty County is rich with recreational opportunities, industrial parks for industry, a regional airport, and great schools that include two colleges, is only part of what makes Liberty County such a great place to live. Come visit us and see why so many have discovered that Liberty County is a place to live for a lifetime. 750721_Liberty.indd 1 Liberty County Board Of Commissioners Donald L. Lovette, Chairman Dist. 1, Marion Stevens, Sr. Dist. 2, Justin L. Frasier Dist. 3, Connie Thrift Dist. 4, Pat Bowen Dist. 5, Gary Gilliard Dist. 6, Eddie J. Walden www.libertycountyga.com FALL 2016 www.accg.org 6/21/15 23 8:58 AM http://www.libertycountyga.com http://www.libertycountyga.com http://www.accg.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - Fall 2016