Report: No revenue spike for Idaho so far from Amazon deal

Idaho economists say state revenues didn’t spike during the first month of collecting online sales tax on internet purchases from Amazon.

Earlier this year, the giant e-commerce company announced it had struck a deal with the Idaho State Tax Commission to begin collecting sales tax from Amazon shoppers in Idaho. This prompted several state lawmakers to estimate the deal could result in a big revenue boost.

However, in a recent revenue report, the Division of Financial Management found that sales tax receipts came in only .8 percent higher than what economists originally projected for May – or around $842 million more. Economists finalized the projections for fiscal year 2017 before the Amazon deal was announced.

Jani Revier, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s budget director, says it’s still too early to determine if Amazon sales tax revenue will help funnel significantly more money to Idaho.