Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Wisconsin Passes Digital Download Tax

Posted by Soulskill on from the harvesting-the-tubes dept.

McGruber writes with news that the State of Wisconsin has passed legislation to extend sales tax to digital downloads. The new law will go into effect on October 1st. Estimates suggest that the 5% tax on "downloads of music, games, books, ring tones and other video entertainment" will bring in $6.7 million annually. "[Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle] has been fighting for the change for years. He and other state officials say it is a matter of fairness: Internet vendors shouldn't have a tax-exempt advantage over Wisconsin's brick-and-mortar retail stores." Similar legislation has been proposed in North Carolina, and we've previously discussed New York's foray into taxing sales made online in addition to downloaded purchases.

6 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. I live in WI, and I say this sucks by neo-mkrey · · Score: 5, Informative

    In addition to this, the current legislature wants to increase the state sales tax another 0.5%, add a tax to car insurance sales and put toll booths on the Interstate. This after they voted themselves a 5.5% wage increase.

  2. How do they enforce this? by SigNuZX728 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm a little confused how they're going to enforce this law against companies that have no physical presence in the state? I did not see that addressed in the article.

    1. Re:How do they enforce this? by dedmorris · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The hot dog vendor only collects tax, and more importantly has the expense of filing in only one location. The small internet vendor could potentially be held liable to collect, file, and understand the tax laws of thousands of taxing jurisdictions. It's more than just the states. Could Madison attempt to enforce a download tax? What about the Dane County High School Football Stadium levy? Historically, out-of-state businesses have been protected in the US by nexus requirements. There are tens of thousands of taxing jurisdictions in the US.

    2. Re:How do they enforce this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You do realize that having your withholding adjusted so that you owe instead of get a refund is a good thing right?

    3. Re:How do they enforce this? by Atomic6 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Not sure why this was downranked, but I'll try to explain why Anon. Coward is correct in his thinking, to a certain point at least.

      If you get a refund, you'll get exactly what you would've have spent when you initially paid your taxes and had withholding's taken out. In other words, it's like the government was saving your money for you without paying interest like a bank would do.

      If, however, you owe money, that means you got to keep it in the bank or put it into some kind of investment, where it could grow grow. When it comes time to pay owed taxes, whatever interest or growth that money accrued is yours.

      --
      "We have exactly as much freedom as we are willing to demand and as we can defend."
  3. economy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Glad to see that WI is working to help stimulate the economy by pulling more money out of it!!