Are you paying the iTunes tax?

If you live in one of the nearly 25 states that charge sales tax on digital goods or services you likely pay more for everything from downloaded music, e-books and ringtones to streaming TV shows and video. And a growing number of states are finding ways to tax our digital diversions.

While some states rely on existing sales tax laws, more than a dozen have enacted sales tax laws specifically targeting digital goods. As consumers switch to digital music, books and movies, many states discovered that they were losing out on valuable sales tax revenue and decided to do something about it, said Michael Mazerov, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit think tank. E-book sales, for example, rose 44% to $3.04 billion in 2012, according to the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group. Meanwhile, digital music sales, were up 9.1%, with digital transactions making up a record 37% of all album purchases, according to Nielsen.