North Dakota's Tax Commissioner said more than 2,100 online retailers have registered to collect North Dakota sales tax.
Ryan Rauschenberger said that’s been growing by about 100 per week. He had set an October first deadline for the online stores to register.
"Nationally, these companies aren't just registering here in North Dakota," Rauschenberger said. "They're registering in 44 other states with sales taxes. And there's a bottleneck with companies that help them do this."
Rauschenberger said for the current state fiscal year, his office did not factor in any collections of sales taxes from Internet retailers. For the next two-year budget proposal, $10 million in collections was factored in for the first year, and $15 million for the second year.
Rauschenberger said it will also help cities and counties that collect local sales taxes.
"The local tax will be collected by us," Rauschenberger said. "It is very much a local finance issue."
Rauschenberger said the goal is to have on-line retailers play by the same rules as local retailers.
"Cities are set to benefit greatly from those collections," Rauschenberger said.
Rauschenberger said he won’t have figures for the Christmas season from on-line retailers until probably February.
