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New York to Implement an 'Amazon Tax'

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the death-and-taxes dept.

theodp writes "NY Governor David Paterson is expected to sign a bill requiring online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even if they have no operations or employees working there. The so-called 'Amazon tax', which applies to Internet retailers who derive sales through affiliate programs, would end what for many New Yorkers had been tax-free shopping and generate an estimated $50M in revenue this fiscal year. Experts predict that other states could follow suit with similar provisions."

5 of 411 comments (clear)

  1. New York took down license plates from people... by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...shopping in PA malls just over the border, and sent them notices that they had to pay NY sales tax. NY also is trying to force Seneca store owners on sovereign indian land to collect NY sales tax.

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  2. Re:As much as I hate taxes . . . by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's not that simple. The Supreme Court placed specific requirements on states and cities before they are allowed to do this, and I don't think any of them have complied yet.

    I have a problem with governments being able to reach beyond their jurisdiction to demand out of state / out of city companies collect their taxes for them.

    I sell things online, and I don't want to be liable for collecting taxes for 30 states and maybe hundreds of cities. I've heard that the big internet retailers are fine with these taxes, because it's a burden they can easily absorb while hurting smaller internet retailers.

  3. Re:and the retailers respond... by jcr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Then we'll see a bunch of businesses pop up in New Jersey and Connecticut which will forward packages to New York. They're not the buyer or the seller, so they'd have no obligation to tell New York what they shipped to whom and when.

    -jcr

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    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  4. Re:they can pass it all they want... by penix1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So the cure would be to bar sales to New York residents letting them know why. A few years of New York residents not being able to buy things online should make them wake up and smell the coffee.

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  5. Re:Nonsense by Amilianna · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At the time the Constitution was ratified, the states clearly would have considered imports into the state to be imports.

    This may have been true (not having been there, it would be difficult to say one way or the other) but realistically irrelevant in many ways. At the time the Constitution was ratified, we didn't have the internet, shipping methods or many things that have altered the world we live in. The job of our courts is to interpret the Constitution's intent and apply it to modern-day situations, which it was obviously not equipped to deal with since it had no knowledge of the changes that would occur. So to say that this is unConstitutional simply because the founders of our country could never have conceived of the ease of internet shopping is a bit silly. And, in our country, the courts are correct until overturned. That is the way our legal system works. So if you feel the ruling is unConstitutional, your recourse would be to sue the state of New York and take it up to the Supreme Court who could then make a direct ruling on whether or not their bill is unConstitutional or not.

    Until then, it is a Constitutional as any of the rest of our laws that are drafted to deal with realities that a document written in 1787 couldn't possibly have conceived of.

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