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Washington State Encourages Internet Sales Tax
prostoalex writes "Washington state Governor signed a tax bill encouraging out of state businesses to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Washington state residents. It should be noted, though, that Washington state does not collect personal income tax, and hence relies on state sales tax for 53.1% of its revenues." As the article notes, "People who purchase items from out-of-state Internet or catalog companies are currently supposed to pay the sales tax, but rarely do." Looks like Washington-staters won't be able to fib on their tax returns about internet purchases, starting in 2008.
Well, that's not really an issue since there's no state income tax in Washington state.
(Although having residents like Bill Gates and Paul Allen is a good reason to consider it.)
It's stupid anyway. Sales taxes in Seattle are up to 9.1% which is pretty damn ridiculous. If I were living in WA and this went through, I'd move. Internet purchases help make WA living more affordable.
Right. Let's save money. Let's move from a beautiful green ecotopia and hot job market (Boeing, Amazon, Starbucks, Paccar, Microsoft, and Dept. of Defense) with rising house prices, to Detroit, where houses go for $30,000 and people make SUVs that don't sell because everyone wants a Prius.
It's not the party but the people in office. Anyone can hang any sign on themselves they want, if you're a big enough of a moron to go and pull the party line you're going to end up with people who don't really follow the same platform. I'm guessing that if people would put as much effort into who they vote for as to what they're going to eat for dinner the night before election day we may have more people who'd gladly abandon their party politic bullshit and get back to having their vote really mean something.
BTW: When the Democrats were high and mighty they did damage to our civil liberties too, don't act like it didn't happen because that's an insult to anyone who remembers the Clinton administration and it makes you look like a fucking stooge.
I've got a friend who lived under Soviet rule for most of his life, he also lived in Canada for a while and he swears up and down that when you add up all the taxes you pay at every level, the USA has the highest taxes AND that USians don't get as much for their tax dollars as they do in Canada.
Does this sig remind you of Agatha Christie?
Neither US political party has much to brag about on tax an spend issues. They both are quite greedy.
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l Title=secrets_in_the_senate&ns=JohnStossel&dt=09/1 3/2006&page=full&comments=true
Take a look at the CATO Institutes 2006 report card on state governors:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa581/reportcard_tab
In case you are too blinded by ideology to even look, I'll post the scores of the governors above and below Washington :
Bob Riley (R) -- Alabama, 47, F
Christine Gregoire (D) -- Washington, 47, F
Mike Huckabee (R) -- Arkansas, 46, F
The full report, with analysis and discussion:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa581.pdf
BTW, John Stossel had an interesting report on 20/20 last night about Senator Tom Coburn, who is fighting federal pork-- and taking on heavy fire from both sides.
He wrote about the story last year:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?Ur
I started paying my use taxes a few years ago. On my state income tax form there was a check box for those who didn't keep good records of their out-of-state purchases. I'd Check it, add some miniscule percent of my income for use tax (about $20) and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I could survive an audit. Pretty cheap protection money.
Reread your economics book. No good has intrinsic value. A good is only valuable if someone else desires it, and only to the degree they desire it. Gold has no special magical property that gives it an intrinsic value.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
United States Constitution trumps Washington State law.
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
Section 9.
"No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State."
There is court precedence to back it up, too.
http://tinyurl.com/2pyvoh
When I was working retail, all a customer had to do was show an out-of-state ID, and their purchase would be sales tax exempt.
I would assume this wouldn't apply to the newer Hotel/Rental car taxes tho.
Looks like Washington-staters won't be able to fib on their tax returns about internet purchases, starting in 2008.
We don't have to file (state) tax. It says so in the article quoted about 2 sentences above this moronic comment: Washington State has no income tax.
So now editors don't even read the blurbs. Or did they before?
Comment of the year
1992 1993 2001 2002 2003-2006
-2000
10.0% 10%
15% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15%
28% 28.0% 27.5% 27.0% 25%
31% 31.0% 30.5% 30.0% 28%
36.0% 35.5% 35.0% 33%
39.6% 39.1% 38.6% 35%
I don't know where you got your mathematics degree from, but for me:
2000 -> 2006
15% -> 10%
28% -> 25%
31% -> 28%
36% -> 33%
39.6% -> 35%
Looks like they've gone up doesn't quite fit the numbers.
(Yes, the tax brackets get wider, but they do that every year.)
If humans no longer wished to live, the food would have no value. Meaning - humans desire food because it's required for their survival. If they suddenly stopped caring about life, they would not desire food and food would be worthless.
It is legal, according to the Supreme Court. The main case in this area is Complete Auto Transit vs. Brady.
The state is not taxing the out-of-state sales. Rather, it is imposing an excise tax on possession or use of the items by residents of the state (this kind of tax is usually called a "use tax", and I'll call it that in the rest of this comment). A common example of this kind of thing is taxes on luxury items such as boats. If a state has such a tax, you generally will have to pay it when you register the boat, even if you bought the boat out of state. The same power that allows the state to tax that boat that you are using in-state regardless of where you bought it is what allows them to tax, say, your mail-order books or computers or viagra.
The main limits on this, due to the interstate commerce clause in the Constitution, are that they cannot force merchants in another state to collect the tax for them (but see below), and the tax cannot unduly burden out-of-state purchases. The Court has decided that this means that the total tax on an out-of-state purchase (sales taxes in the state of sale plus the use tax in the buyer's state) cannot exceed what the tax would have been had the item been purchased in-state.
As far as collection goes, a state does not have the power, in general, to tell a merchant in another state to collect this use tax for the state. What I mean by "in general" is that an arbitrary merchant, in another state, that does not have some connection with the buyer's state other than selling items to them, could not be forced to collect for the state. However, if that merchant has some relationship with the state that does give the state power over it (such as it having offices or stores in the buyer's state), then they state may have power over it. This is why major national merchants collect taxes on mail-order purchases, even if their mail-order operation is out of the purchaser's state--they have retail stores in the purchaser's state, and so the state can tell them to collect the tax.
For items where the merchant does not have to, and does not voluntarily decide to, collect the use tax, the state has generally only actually collected on items like cars and boats, that have a registration requirement. But most states do have a (widely ignored and in most cases largely unknown) requirement that you pay your use tax.
Oh, one more thing. I don't remember what case it was in, but I believe the Court has also decided that Congress does have the power to require merchants to collect use taxes when they sell mail-order, even if they do not have a sufficient present in the buyer's state to give that state authority to compel such collection.
Article I, Section 9:
"No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state."