Online shopping is shortchanging our budget

In yesterday's recap of the revenue forecast meeting, we mentioned that leakage in sales tax revenue from people buying online will cost the state $740 million in 2011-13.

Some online retailers, such as Washington's own Amazon, are great at collecting sales tax from Washington shoppers. Many others, unfortunately, are not. It's an issue Rep. Ross Hunter, chair of the Ways & Means Committee, has been working on nationally.

The PI has a great story today digging a little deeper into the challenge of collecting sales tax from online shoppers.