In this episode of the SALTovation podcast, we are joined by Judy Vorndran and Scott Peterson. Scott is the current Vice President of U.S. Tax Policy and Government Relations at Avalara. Prior to Avalara, he was the first Executive Director of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board - an organization devoted to making sales tax simpler and more uniform for the benefit of business. Scott also spent 10 years as the Director of the South Dakota Sales Tax Division and 12 years providing research and legal writing for the South Dakota legislature.

Scott shares how his career in sales tax started by accident but ended up loving it and has dedicated his life to bringing industry change. Judy explains the importance of hiring lawyers who understand sales tax and policy at the same time to represent you as a business.

Listen in to understand why some states are not members of Streamline due to lack of uniformity in state and local tax.

Questions asked and answered in this Episode:

• What has your career been like in private practice and what made you stay away?
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• Is there something strategic within South Dakota state that was chosen to carry the supreme case forward?
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• What led you to be the executive director of Streamline Sales Tax Governing Board and what does streamline mean for everyone?
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• How did working at Avalara come about and what are you doing there?
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What You Will Discover: 

• [1:09] He describes his career in tax as an accident caused by unemployment during a recession and having to take what was on the table.
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• [8:12] The attributes to look for when hiring people who fully understand sales tax.
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• [16:09] How not to be in the uncertainty of potential liability especially for public companies.
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• [18:04] The amount of business that is happening in South Dakota which is why it has much bearing when it comes to the sales tax world.
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• [20:52] Judy explains why there’s a Wayfair in Colorado state.
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• [25:20] Scott describes how Streamline was a change environment for him- they applied change to make life better for everyone.
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• [29:16] Why some states are not members of Streamline- the challenge of state and local tax having to be identical.
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• [36:43] How big companies promoting SST uniformity did not care about certified service providers- how Avalara tackles the issue of government-imposed tax.
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• [43:37] How automation or software is connected with transactions and taxes in general.
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Quotables:

• “If you don’t have the financial acumens, it’s really hard to understand sales tax because you have to understand the policy and then you have to put the numbers on the forms.”- Judy [13:56]
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• “We were making changes to make life better.”- Scott Peterson [26:40]
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• “It’s easy to automate a yes with a no if you have all the staff behind it, what’s complicated is selling it because you have to be sold with something else.”- Scott Peterson [44:00]
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Relevant Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-peterson-9170b8a/

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Production Support

This episode was produced with support from Truth Work Media. www.truthworkmedia.com

Mentioned in this episode:

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