Slashdot Mirror
State Coalition Approves Internet Sales Tax Plan
An anonymous reader submits this story about the U.S. states banding together to figure out a way to tax mail-order transactions.
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
all they will do is chase E-commerce out of the country completely, or into the states that didn't sign up.
the only draw that has kept mail order and now the internet alive is the fact that you can offset the shipping costs by bypassing the sales tax (Illegal I know, you are supposed to pay it yourself in april..... prove I bought that armani sofa mister secretary of the state!)
most of the time if I find something online for cheap, I can find it within a 1 hour drive of my home for the same price. the lack of sales tax offsets the shipping (most items) and makes the buyer happy with waiting for delivery.
any state that adopts or joins this will kill the Ecommerce in their state.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I see no reason why online shopping should be taxed any differently than catalog shopping. IIRC, taxes are charged on in-state sales only. States that wish to tax differently than this should also look into taxing catalog sales.
This article skims over one very important fact, what is to become of the money earmarked from local option taxes?
I personally hate the fact that each city can have its own different tax, and would love to see a consistent sales tax everywhere I go.
However...the reason that most of these local option taxes exist is to fund a specialized project that otherwise would not happen. Several area towns have used this to direct money toward schools, rec centers, etc.
All in all, seems as though the government is trying to stuff their large, greedy paws in the cookie jar, and they may not even come away with anything except crumbs. The administration of the plan, and the sharing of profits with vendors that is mentioned in the article may in fact eat up most of the profits that the government thinks they would see.
My $.02
The U.S. General Accounting Office has estimated states lose nearly $13 billion each year on untaxed Internet transactions.
Yeah, and I lose several grand a year by not skimming funds off a local company's treasury. "Lose" is too misleading. It's like buying a can of beans with a coupon and saving 49 whole cents.
Hey! I know... lets form another TASK FORCE to investigate this problem. Then they will take a 5 year period to basically tell us either what we all already know or simply say, "we need more time" but either way nothing will change. YAY! Self perpetuating machine that goes against EVERYTHING our country was founded on! YAY!
I did hear about this news story on Marketplace/NPR at work tonight. I already have to collect state sales taxes for stuff I ship within Texas, and it's complicated enough keeping track of and filing monthly for the little tax zone that I'm in. I understand that's the cost of doing business, but for someone who does an extremely small volume in a sole proprietorship this is quite frustrating. This just adds another (probably) half-inch thick stack of paperwork I have to deal with at tax time and year-round, more forms I have to fill out and more opportunities for me to get confused, screw something up, be audited and be fined or worse. I can't afford to hire an accountant or a tax attourney, so I have to learn all this myself.
Not to mention the fact that people are not going to want to pay sales tax for something after they're already paying $10-20 plus for shipping costs. Unless they plan on making sales tax an even amount for all counties, cities and metro areas across the country, I don't even see how this is possible -- nor can I see how it will serve any purpose except to hurt online sales that are already hurting to begin with. This just seems so unwise and poorly considered to me, both from the point of view of a small online business owner and as a person who orders many things online myself.
My Webcomic: Asylum on 5th Street
Adding sales tax would suck, but it wouldn't prevent me from shopping online.
Hey, chief, the Internet isn't different from mail order. There's a little thing called the US Constitution which specifically prohibits states taxing interstate commerce. The idea was to avoid having each state do exactly what the US as a whole does, i.e., use tarifs to implement protectionist policy.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another
Not quite. Buying at the local store has the advantage of being a local return when it does not work or breaks within 30 days. It also dumps money into your local economy.
Further, shipping is often no more than tax anyway.
XML causes global warming.
In my opinion, states are already making money off catalog and Internet sales. These items have to be delivered, typically by a national shipping company. States tax the delivery company's profits, tax the fuel for their vehicles, and tax the wages of the employees. That's got to be more than a few $. I'm also willing to be you'll find a tax-paying e-commerce company in every state in the country, and probably catalog companies as well.
So what it comes down to, the greedy state governments want more...big surprise.
That's just an example. I know there are other taxes besides sales tax and income tax. But, in the end, the government will get money from you one way or another. They skim it from everywhere.
Nothing is certain but death and taxes.
That guy thought a lot of things, not least that stagnation could never occur at the same time as inflation. The seventies showed how wrong an idea that was...
The only way a consumerist economy will work is by putting discretionary income in the hands of the consumer. The government actually needs to tax us LESS, so we have more money to spend. If there's more money actually working in the economic system (and not lining some politician's pockets) then consumers will buy more goods. More goods will be produced because people can afford them and demand is high. And *gasp* Then you have MORE JOBS because more of this wonderful stuff that consumers consume is affordable to them, and they want it now!
Taxing people just reduces how much money they can spend in our economic system...It keeps them from going out to McDonalds and instead keeps them inside cooking $1.50 TV Dinners.
Do you know what happens when you over-tax people? You piss them off. Do you know what happens when those you're taxing realise that they're pissed and they don't like your taxes? They throw all your fucking tea into the harbor and do a happy dance because your regime is about to crumble.
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
Do you honestly want to be writing out all those checks?
My partner and I are incorporated, and I can tell you that the administrative workload increases very quickly when you start doing things in other states, and writing checks is the very least of the load. Have a half-day-a-week employee in the neighboring state? Great...don't forget to open a tax account in that state, deposit witholding taxes there every month, pay unemployment taxes every quarter, and file a tax return every quarter. Client wants you to visit sites in five different states? Super....each of those states expects you to pay income tax on the 12 hours of work you did there. They may have a "neighboring state" agreement with your state, or they may allow you to declare those twelve hours in your home state, but it's totally up to them.
Collecting taxes for every jurisdiction in which you make a sale would be a nightmare for small operators.
Evil is the money of root.