Do eBay Sellers Comply with State Sales Taxes?

James Alm () and Mikhail Melnik ()

No 1106, Working Papers from Tulane University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The rapid growth in online commerce has harmed state sales tax bases. However, the extent of this base reduction is difficult to estimate. In this paper we collect our own data from eBay.com on a "representative" commodity classification and a "typical" day. Our data consist of nearly twenty-one thousand eBay listings generated by over seven thousand individual sellers with over ninety-three hundred buyers. We find that overall eBay seller compliance is quite low but that compliance by established sellers is significantly higher. Given that established sellers account for the bulk of online commerce, the estimated revenue loss from eBay seller noncompliance may be relatively small.

Keywords: online commerce; sales taxes; nexus; tax evasion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H26 H71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2011-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://repec.tulane.edu/RePEc/pdf/tul1106.pdf First version, 2011 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Do Ebay Sellers Comply With State Sales Taxes? (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tul:wpaper:1106

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