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End of the Internet's Tax-Free Ride?
News.com has a piece looking at renewed efforts by both state and federal lawmakers to subject Internet sales to state taxes. "Two bills are pending in Congress that would allow tax collectors to target out-of-state Internet and mail-order retailers, and their supporters are optimistic about their political prospects... Meanwhile, pro-tax states are trying their own ways to circumvent a long-standing rule saying a retailer must have physical presence before it can be forced to collect taxes. One effort came from New York state, where legislators recently approved a measure requiring Amazon and other online retailers (that lack a physical presence in the state) to collect sales tax on New Yorkers' purchases... This is not exactly a new debate... But now, with a Democratic Congress and a potentially Democratic administration next year, the arguments may gain more political traction."
More taxes... I'm sure everyone feels a lot of sympathy for them with it being tax season and everything. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun for small mom and pop retailers to deal with filing paperwork and collecting tax in 50 states just in order to sell trinkets off a small business website.
There are ALREADY laws and taxes in place! A state does not have legal authority to impose taxes on a sale made in another state. That is, it cannot force an Oklahoma retailer to collect California sales taxes for a sale made to a Californian.
However, as far as I am aware ALL 50 STATES have "use taxes" in place, that are supposed to be paid for out-of-state purchases. In most cases the amount of use tax is identical to what the sales tax would have been if the sale had been local. The difference is that the purchaser, not the seller, is responsible for paying the tax. This is the way it MUST be... neither the individual States nor the Federal government have the Constitutional authority to force a business to collect taxes for the other 49 states. And even if they could, it would be an excessive burden... trying to keep track of tax rates for different kinds of products in 50 individual states is beyond the reasonable capabilities of most small businesses, which even today are still the backbone of our economy. Further, the Federal government also does not have the authority to collect State taxes on their behalf.
The taxes are already there. The laws are already in place. If they don't like the way that works... too bad. They just do not have the Constitutional authority to do this. And there is nothing new here, either... people have been buying by mail-order for at least a couple of centuries now, and this debate has been going on all that time. DO NOT let them try to tell you that eBay is forcing their hands. Hogwash.
I want my government reduced to 1890 levels, and armies of government useless eaters forced to find honest work.
Too much Law; not enough Order.