By: Jessica Cihacek
jcihacek@kcautv.com
Not only is shopping online convenient it, can also save you a few bucks. In most cases, online retailers don't ask you to pay a state sales tax.
But Vermillion business owner, Emily Sudbeck, says this trend has turned mainstreet shops into nothing more than showrooms.
Sudbeck adds, "They're coming in and seeing ideas basically and then they're going to find it cheaper online."
And it's not just small businesses feeling the pinch. No sales tax means millions in lost revenue for the state.
Because of that, South Dakota has passed a pair of laws requiring online retailers collect a sales tax. Many sites, though, have found a loophole and are refusing to pay.
Shawn Lyons, the Executive Director of the South Dakota Retailers Association, says, "And I'll just give you a little bit of an example, this unfair competition by these online only retailers gives them as much as a 10% price advantage over mainstreet businesses.
So, to even the playing field, members of the SDRA are asking lawmakers to pass a bill they call "Mainstreet Fairness Legislation."
If passed, it would require all websites to collect a state sales tax. But not all business owners are for it.
Take Robert Tigert, for example, owner of Tigert Art in Vermillion.
Tigert says, "I do some online shopping, therefore it's less expensive for me to buy something out of state that is not available here and it's cheaper."
And even if his clients find a product of his online for a lower price?
Tigert adds, "Then they're good shoppers!"
