NU News

A paper co-authored by NU assistant professor of economics Mikhail Melnik was recently cited in an article posted by Forbes.com. The paper, which was published in the National Tax Journal in June, examines sales tax compliance among eBay sellers. The study analyzed data on all consumer electronics sold on the online marketplace during a 24-hour period in July 2007. Although federal law requires online sellers to collect sales tax on purchases made in their home states, the study found that only 18 percent of eBay sellers comply with this regulation. Melnik and his co-author, James Alm, an economics professor from Georgia State University, used data eBay makes publicly available to conduct their research.