A legislative committee will meet this week to tackle the problem of sales-tax zappers — devices used by some retailers to cheat state governments out of revenue.
So far, the problem does not appear to be a big one in Indiana, although at least one Ohio case has a Hoosier connection. But laws banning the devices have passed in Florida, Georgia, Maine, Utah and West Virginia.
And Rep. Eric Turner, the chairman of the Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy, said he doesn't want to let the problem grow in Indiana before the General Assembly acts. The commission has tax zappers on its agenda for a 9 a.m. EDT meeting Tuesday in Room 404 at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.
"If people owe money that they're not remitting then I'm interested," Turner, R-Cicero, said. "I don't know if we have a problem but I want to find out."
Tax zappers are thumb drives with specialized software that can — when plugged into a computerized cash register or point-of-sale device — strip some sales out of the system or reduce the amounts of other sales. The retailer pays sales taxes based on those smaller amounts, while keeping the taxes paid by consumers on the reduced or eliminated sales.
The Indiana Department of Revenue has yet to catch a retailer using a zapper. But spokesman Bob Dittmer said the agency "is on the lookout for them."
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