Whitmer signs bills to collect taxes on more online sales
LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation to ensure that Michigan's 6% sales and use taxes are collected on more items sold through websites such as Wayfair, Overstock and Amazon.
The laws, which Whitmer enacted on Thursday, could generate an additional $90 million in revenue per year, mostly for public schools.
The new measures codify state guidance that requires out-of-state sellers to pay taxes if they exceed $100,000 in sales or have 200 or more transactions in Michigan.
The laws also require "marketplace facilitators" such as eBay that meet one of the thresholds to remit sales and use taxes on behalf of independent sellers regardless of how many transactions the seller has done in Michigan.
The Michigan Retailers Association applauded the Democratic governor and Republican-led Legislature on Friday, calling the laws an "early Christmas present of sale tax fairness." It said the measures bring in-state businesses closer to true sales tax parity with out-of-state online companies.
While Whitmer signed the legislation, she criticized a provision that prohibits buyers from bringing a class-action lawsuit against a marketplace facilitator that is related to an overpayment of taxes. She called it an "anti-consumer" provision and warned she will not support future laws with that type of provision