IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ntj/journl/v60y2007i4p711-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Internet Purchases, Cross-Border Shopping, and Sales Taxes

Author

Listed:
  • Ballard, Charles L.
  • Lee, Jaimin

Abstract

Using data from the Current Population Survey for 1997 and 2001, we estimate the probability that a consumer engages in online shopping. We use variation in sales–tax rates by county to identify the effects of the sales–tax rate in the home county and adjacent counties. We also control for the sales–tax base. The estimates are consistent with the interpretation that consumers use Internet shopping to avoid sales taxes. In addition, consumers who live adjacent to counties with lower sales–tax rates are less likely to shop via the Internet, all else equal. We interpret this as evidence of cross–border shopping.

Suggested Citation

  • Ballard, Charles L. & Lee, Jaimin, 2007. "Internet Purchases, Cross-Border Shopping, and Sales Taxes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 60(4), pages 711-725, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:60:y:2007:i:4:p:711-25
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2007.4.02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2007.4.02
    Download Restriction: Access is restricted to subscribers and members of the National Tax Association.
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2007.4.02
    Download Restriction: Access is restricted to subscribers and members of the National Tax Association.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17310/ntj.2007.4.02?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald Bruce & John Deskins & William F. Fox, 2004. "Has Internet Access Taxation Affected Internet Use?," Public Finance Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 131-147, March.
    2. James Alm & Mikhail I. Melnik, 2005. "Sales Taxes and the Decision to Purchase Online," Public Finance Review, , vol. 33(2), pages 184-212, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liran Einav & Dan Knoepfle & Jonathan Levin & Neel Sundaresan, 2014. "Sales Taxes and Internet Commerce," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Mallick Hossain, 2022. "A world without borders revisited: Impact of online sales tax collection on shopping and search," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 48-63, February.
    3. Beem, Richard & Bruce, Donald, 2021. "Failure to launch: Measuring the impact of sales tax nexus standards on business activity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    4. Elias Igwebuike Agbo & E. O Nwadialor, 2020. "E–Commerce And Tax Revenue," Noble International Journal of Economics and Financial Research, Noble Academic Publsiher, vol. 5(8), pages 80-91, August.
    5. Ishuan Li & Robert Simonson & Guncha Babajanova & Matthew Tuomala, 2016. "Smartphone Diffusion and Consumer Price Comparison Shopping Behavior: Implications for the Marketplace Fairness Act," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1337-1353.
    6. Jean‐François Houde & Peter Newberry & Katja Seim, 2023. "Nexus Tax Laws and Economies of Density in E‐Commerce: A Study of Amazon's Fulfillment Center Network," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(1), pages 147-190, January.
    7. Andrew J. Bibler & Keith F. Teltser & Mark J. Tremblay, 2021. "Inferring Tax Compliance from Pass-Through: Evidence from Airbnb Tax Enforcement Agreements," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 636-651, October.
    8. Andrés Leal & Julio López-Laborda & Fernando Rodrigo, 2014. "The Inside and Outside Revenue Impact of Regional Gambling Taxes in Spain," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 79-97, March.
    9. Jean-François Houde & Peter Newberry & Katja Seim, 2017. "Nexus Tax Laws and Economies of Density in E-Commerce: A Study of Amazon’s Fulfillment Center Network," NBER Working Papers 23361, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Leal, Andrés & López-Laborda, Julio & Rodrigo, Fernando, 2009. "Prices, taxes and automotive fuel cross-border shopping," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 225-234.
    11. Benjamin Harbolt, 2019. "Tax Avoidance through E-Commerce and Cross-Border Shopping," CESifo Working Paper Series 7814, CESifo.
    12. Steel, Will & Daglish, Toby & Marriott, Lisa & Gemmell, Norman & Howell, Bronwyn, 2013. "E-Commerce and its effect upon the Retail Industry and Government Revenue," Working Paper Series 4333, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    13. Steel, Will & Daglish, Toby & Marriott, Lisa & Gemmell, Norman & Howell, Bronwyn, 2013. "E-Commerce and its effect upon the Retail Industry and Government Revenue," Working Paper Series 19294, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    14. Brian Baugh & Itzhak Ben‐David & Hoonsuk Park, 2018. "Can Taxes Shape an Industry? Evidence from the Implementation of the “Amazon Tax”," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1819-1855, August.
    15. Goolsbee Austan, 2006. "The Value of Broadband and the Deadweight Loss of Taxing New Technology," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-31, April.
    16. Rajeev Goel & Edward Hsieh & Michael Nelson & Rati Ram, 2006. "Demand elasticities for Internet services," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 975-980.
    17. Tessa Conroy & Harvey Cutler & Stephan Weiler, 2016. "The State-Level Impacts of Enforcing Sales Taxes for E-retail Purchases," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 276-295, June.
    18. Birg, Laura, 2018. "Cross-border or Online - Tax Competition with Mobile Consumers under Destination and Origin Principle," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181645, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Hikaru Ogawa & Ryota Tsuchiya, 2024. "Taxing Cross-Border Online Sales for Pareto Improvement in Tax Revenue," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1235, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    20. Alm, James & Melnik, Mikhail I., 2010. "Do Ebay Sellers Comply With State Sales Taxes?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 63(2), pages 215-236, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:60:y:2007:i:4:p:711-25. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: The University of Chicago Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ntanet.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.