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California Senate Approves Net Tax Bill
Grant Erickson points to this internet.com story, which says "On Thursday, the California state Senate approved a bill that requires businesses with stores in the state to charge their customers sales tax for purchases made over the Internet." The state's huge ($35 billion) budget deficit is named as a driving force for the measure.
Unfortunately this is something we've all known has been a long
time in coming. When it comes to the government and collecting
"their" money, they won't let any opportunity pass them by.
It will be interesting to see how this will impact online
retailing though. Not having to pay sales tax has been helpful
to sites like Amazon for keeping their costs lower than brick
and mortar stores. Although I think many people don't figure
the cost of sales tax into the purchase of an item as frequently
as they should (I know I don't), so it may not have that large
of an effect.
One interesting sales tax law in my home state (Utah) is that if
you buy something from a state that doesn't have sales tax
(Oregon) then you have to pay sales tax to Utah. Just one of
the lovely little "bend over and grab your ankles" type of laws
on the books. I'm hopeful they won't enact the same type of law
for internet commerce, but I don't have much hope.
Doug Tolton
"The destruction of a value which is, will not bring value to that which isn't." -John Galt
now the question is, will companies relocate to avoid charging their customers the tax?
Mike
Integrating a system to charge, process and report state taxes, and losing business due to your higher prices,
OR:
Moving away from california.
So now what happens for people in Michigan (and perhaps other states)? We are required to report any online purchases (and pay Michigan tax on those purchases) when we file our state income tax returns each year. This includes purchases from other states. How does this get handled if I buy from California?
I heard a story here in Oregon on the local news that the Oregon legislator is discussing a tax on fast food. I agree with this kind of tax that same way I agree with taxes on cigarettes and liquor. The state ends up paying for health care for obesity, lung cancer and liver problems.
However, I think that this internet tax does not have the same kind of reasoning. The internet is bringing revenue in for the state and now the state is trying to find a way to make more money.
Where the Music Matters
Californians will be the most heavily taxed state in the union inside of a decade.
Thank Gray Davis and his complete incompetence, but don't forget to give a shout out to the hippies and celebrities who hold so much sway out there.
I swear to god, there's something wrong with people's heads in that state. I've mentioned before I write police software for a living, and we have some California sites.
Most municipalities out there have this screwed up system for dealing with false alarms, and it all boils down to: after the seventh alarm, your permit is revoked, you're charged with being a public nuisance. Both of which make some sense, but get this, the police are to no longer respond to your residence.
I mean, any crooks in LA and it's surrounding counties, theres the hot tip o' the day. Find a business that has had seven false alarms within 12 months (thats a sliding window, not a calendar year), and it's free for the pickins! Smash the window, shoot the owner in the face, the police wont come!
All because some dipshit politician with his head up his ass thought that the police refusing protection to citizens would be a great cost-cutting measure.
Of course, the police will still show up. They cant afford not to, there are too many liability issues (imagine the feeding frenzy if some clerk bled to death on the floor of a 7-11 because the police wouldnt come out for alarm #8).
Bah, that states done. You could fill a library with stupid laws and idiotic political moves in california. Cecede and form Moronia, already.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I thought Oregonians were "liberal", oh well. Most people who eat fast food are low income; that's all they can afford. Also, have you noticed where a lot of fast food eateries are? In low income or rural areas. All the rich people can afford to shop at Trader Joes and Whole Foods ... the poor folk are stuck eating Big Macs. A fast food tax is a dumb idea, and shouldn't fly if Democratic voters have a clue and can put a and b together. Now an internet tax, that's taxing the well to do, so it's "okay". Not many ghetto kids are buying DVDs online at Amazon, get it?
I wonder how this will effect games like Everquest, who's servers are based in CA. I am not sure if any-other online games are based out there, but it will be interesting to see if the price will go up.
They don't necessarily make money from the business income. Most of the business income tax will be paid in the state in which they are headquartered, not the state of the sale. That's why they are so aggressive about this now. Half the parties who must pay this are from other states (i.e. can't vote against them).
Don't tax you; don't tax me;
Tax that other guy behind the tree.
Btw, if we want to reduce multiple taxation in the US, why don't we replace sales and business income taxes with a VAT (value added tax, which taxes the difference between revenues and costs per item)? It accomplishes the goals of both taxes more smoothly and is harder to evade.
people like to package problems into stereo types. Those immigrants pick your fruit you dumb bastard. how about stopping politicians from selling out to corporatiosn, like the California energy crisis where we got screwed in the ass behind doors. the rich get rich, and the poor..well you only can own so little as nothing. and then some.
A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.