In Alabama, rising pandemic-related online shopping has been a “life saver” for the state’s municipal governments and a “financial vaccine for Alabama’s counties,” the state said. The state’s SSUT has taken in more than $309 million overall during the current fiscal year – almost double the tax generated during all of fiscal 2018-19. The number of online retailers in the program has also grown from fewer than 200 in 2017 to more than 2,900 today.
Under the SSUT formula, 50 percent of all revenues from online sales from companies participating in the program go to the state. The legislation also expanded the program to allow out-of-state online sellers to join the SSUT even if they have an affiliate with a brick-and-mortar presence in Alabama.
The Decatur, Ala., city council was also recently set to vote on giving a quarter of online sales tax revenue to the city’s schools in 2021. (A portion of the funds must support child-related nonprofits.) The city expects to get about $2 million in 2020 and again in 2021 from online sales tax.