Supreme Court’s internet tax ruling could bring Fla. significant revenue
MELBOURNE — Peter Unger traveled the world, first in the Navy at the tail end of the Korean War and then as a free spirit searching the ancient paths of India for life’s sacred meaning.
Toward the end of his life Unger, sporting a flowing white beard and welloff financially thanks to his handcrafted jewelry business, sought sanctuary in the idea of living simply.
But in a twist of fate, the 85-year-old who shunned worldly cares was found dead May 7, alone in a nondescript white Ford van that sat parked undisturbed for days at a Walmart, a retail giant seen by many as Amer- ica’s temple of commerce and materialism.
Unger was amo n g the growing number of people around the country who drew their last breaths in Walmart parking lots.
It is not that the parking lots are unsafe. In fact, it is the relative safety of the welllit and busy lots — combined with a welcoming corporate policy — that has drawn more people like Unger to call the Walmart parking lots home, if only temporarily.
And where people live, they also die.
They include those who are homeless, truckers, immigrants, drug-addled, suicidal or ill — all whose bodies are found nationwide in cars, vans and other vehi- cles in the parking lots of the retail giant. It is the last stop, one that can go unno- ticed amid the daily crush of shoppers searching for deals, sometimes focused on the rattle of carts instead of their crowded surroundings.
In Brevard County, police have investigated nearly half a dozen such parking lot deaths since 2015, from the badly decomposed remains of a man found inside a flyswarmed sedan at a beachside Walmart in the simmer- ing July heat to that of a man who suffered from cancer, found the same year in a sport utility vehicle that sat in a far corner of the Walmart lot in Viera. In both cases, it was the pungent smell that first caught the attention of passers-by or workers.
“It’s u nfortunate, but these do happen. it’s not uncommon,” said Lt. Cheryl Trainer, spokeswoman for the Melbourne Police Department, an agency that has investigated the bulk of the Walmart parking lot deaths on the Space Coast.
In each case, officers turn up in environmental suits and masks, sorting through the grisly discoveries, from pill bottles to notepads and photos left behind, hoping to piece together the lives of people like Unger who ended up in the parking lots.
The bodies — the shell of their physical humanity faded and decomposed by the elements — are carefully removed and turned over to medical examiners. Family members, if any can be found, are contacted.
Across the nation, the stories bear similar refrains:
■ In California, a woman missing for months turned up dead. Investigators in the February 2016 case said the woman’s body remained in the car, parked at the retailer, for up to three months.
■ In Illinois, the body of a 49-year-old man who was reported missing for more than a month, was found dead May 18, 2018, in a van at a Bradley, Illinois, Walmart. He was seen going into the store on May 1 and then leav- ing a short time later. He died of natural causes, according to media reports.
■ In Ohio, police said whether to tax remote sales.
“Any alteration to those a 59-year-old man found rules with the potential to April 17, 2018, in a pickup TA LAHASSEE — A U.S. disrupt the development truck at an Airport Thru- Supreme Court decision of such a critical segment way Walmart, died of natexpanding the ability of of the economy should be ural causes. The body was states to pull in tax dollars undertaken by Congress,” in the truck, parked on the from online purchases could he wrote. side of the retail store since have a significant impact in The court’s decision was April 8, authorities report. Florida. praised by Florida business
■ Here in Florida, a In a 5-4 ruling Thursday, groups.
Walmart employee walk- the nation’s highest court “For years, online-only ing the parking aisles Feb. upheld a South Dakota law retailers have exploited this 22, 2018, at a Tarpon Springs that allowed the state to loophole that allows them store reported a strong odor. apply its sales tax to major not to collect sales tax, which Officers arrived and found online retailers, even if they has given them an unfair an unidentified body. Police had no physical presence in competitive advantage over suspected suicide. the state. The ruling reversed brick-and-mortar stores,”
Walmart has a longstanda 1992 court decision that said James Miller, a spokes- ing corporate policy that anyheld online retailers could man for the Florida Retail one is welcome to stay in only be required to collect Federation. “This decision their parking lots overnight, and remit sales taxes if they finally levels that playing depending on local laws. The had stores or some other field, and I think that’s all open-lot policies vary from “nexus” in states. any business owner wants.” area to area, depending on Brick-and-mortar retailers The court decision could the store managers. in Florida and other states also be important in Florida
“Most of the people we see have long complained that because of the state’s heavy are actually travelers, people allowing some online retailreliance on sales-tax revenue. in RVs. There’s like a whole ers to evade sales taxes creExpected to generate more society or culture out there. ates a competitive advantage than $24 billion for the state We do go out and check the for the remote sellers. Congovernment in the current lots, get the cars and keep sumers were supposed to volfiscal year, the sales tax is an eye out for trash, but our untarily pay sales taxes on the single largest source of workers aren’t peeping into remote purchases, although funding for the state. people’s cars,” said Casey it rarely happened. Dominic Calabro, presiStaheli, a spokesman for In his majority opinion dent of Florida TaxWatch, Walmart, whose corporate Thursday, Justice Anthony a business-oriented advo- offices are based in Arkansas. Kennedy cited the expancacy group, said the ability
“Unfortunately, they might sion of internet commerce to apply the sales tax to more smell something and that’s since the court’s 1992 deciinternet sales will keep the when it’s brought to our sion, noting national mail-orstate’s tax structure in sync attention.” der sales totaled $180 billion with the evolving economy.
Other retailers besides at that point, compared to “The taxpayers of Flor- Walmart see similar deaths $453.5 billion in online sales ida really rely heavily on in their parking areas. A in 2017, according to the U.S. the sales tax. You’ve got to West Melbourne McDonDepartment of Commerce. have a modern sales tax, so ald’s was the site of another “(The prior decision) puts we don’t have to have any gruesome discovery in April both local businesses and other kind of tax that people 2017 when a man’s body was many interstate businesses don’t want,” Calabro said. found inside a van. He had with physical presence at a The exact impact of the overdosed. But none are as competitive disadvantage ruling on Florida’s sales tax pervasive or as consistent relative to remote sellers,” collections is unknown but as the ones that happen at Kennedy wrote. “Remote it could be significant. Walmart. sellers can avoid the reguLast November, the fed
Truckers, recreational latory burdens of tax collec- eral Government Account- vehicle enthusiasts, and tion and can offer de facto ability Office estimated that others view parking spaces lower prices caused by the states could have collected as prime locations to find widespread failure of con- between $8.5 billion and rest. Weary travelers see the sumers to pay the tax on $13.4 billion in sales taxes in stores as friendly and conve- their own.” 2017 if they had expanded nient. Inside are restrooms, In a dissenting opinion taxing authority. lower-priced groceries and citing the court’s prior rulThe estimate represented medical supplies. There’s ing, Chief Justice John Robbetween 2 and 4 percent of also hot coffee, newspapers erts said federal lawmakers, total state and local sales tax and smiles from greeters. not the court, should decide collections in 2016, the ana-
Llysts said.
In testimony before the Florida House Ways & Means Committee in January 2017, analysts gave a rough estimate of $200 million in potential sales tax revenue resulting from applying the tax to more remote sales.
In 2014, Amazon, the largest online retailer, began collecting the tax in Florida after it opened a series of “fulfillment centers” in the state. But the tax is not applied to “third-party” sales through the Amazon network.