Offers online sales tax solution
There is a simple way to disperse the taxes collected from online sales. Percentage of what each city sends in to the state is returned to each city. Take 18.5% of the online sales tax collections and earmark that for the cities. Now, how to disperse the money? Somebody has to have a record of how many municipalities are in Mississippi, and how much each send in to the state each year. Divide that 18.5% into two accounts. One will be distributed in equal amounts to every municipality, no matter how big or little, kind of like the Senate represents each state equally with two members. The other half will be distributed in amounts either equal to the percentage each municipality sends in each year, or equal to the percent of residents in all cities combined, kind of like the House of Representatives. The numbers could be adjusted every so many years for population changes or changes in sales tax collections. There should be a cut-off high and low point in the municipalities eligible for this money and an automatic penalty of no funds for ten years to any town that “cooks the books” to get more money. That’s simple enough and didn’t take ten pounds of paperwork to accomplish. Will it happen?? I’m not holding my breath.
Cameron Triplett
Brooksville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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