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US Senate Passes Internet Tax Bill 69 To 27
schwit1 quotes The Washington Post: "The Senate aimed to help traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping — for many a largely tax-free frontier — to state sales taxes. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 69 to 27, getting support from Republicans and Democrats alike."
schwit1 adds "Unfortunately online businesses could be in for a rude awakening when it comes to the law's interpretation." Passage in the House is not certain, and companies like eBay are lobbying to raise the minimum sales required to collect state sales tax to $10 million instead of $1 million per year.
Or rather find ways to collect the tax that consumers already owed.
to collect state sales tax to $10 million instead of $1 million per year.
I predict that if the limit is raised to $10 million then companies will "outsource" sales to wholly owned subsidiaries. For example "Your order has been filled by Amazon West Houston INC"... which has sales below the threshold. At $1 million a year it would be debatable whether the large organisational overhead would be worthwhile for larger companies, but an $10 million it probably would be.
Traditional retailers want business? Change their service, train staff better, have more registers open, kick out the rabble who just hang out in stores and never buy stuff. Most of all lower prices. Even with shipping and sales taxes, I've bought quite a few items online far cheaper. It adds up. Time saved, gas saved, not desiring to punch a moron, or rude person. Despite our need to be around people, malls and shopping just sucks. It's not the same pleasant experience it used to be.
We are taxed when we earn the money, and double taxed when we spend it.
I for one am glad to see that congress can come together on such an important bill.
"Congress shall have the power to regulate commerce among the several states". Maybe you should actually read the Constitution before you spout off your talk radio style nonsense.
if you dont spend your money you got people claiming you are not paying your fair share. there is no winning anymore. your money is not yours, its the governments, they just let you have some to keep you content.
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
No one owes taxes on purchases made from companies that do not have operations in your state. That's how state sales tax works.
Among the challenges of collecting sales tax is there are thousands of taxing jurisdictions. And often the boundaries don't correspond to any zipcode nor even a particular municipality. In addition, sales tax jurisdictions can and often do overlap - ie. city and county.
Even a state that doesn't levy a sales tax itself may allow local authorities to do so, such as some local Alaskan towns do.
To make matters worse, there are numerous categories and exceptions in what's taxable depending on what it is, the amount purchased, the location / manner in which it's sold (ie. food item purchased in a convenience store verses supermarket; consumed on premises or take-out) and when (tax holidays, etc).
And then there's the matter of filing dozens of state sales tax returns - some will expect filings every month, some quarterly, etc. And the time-frames will often differ, so one could find themselves filing sales tax forms practically every month or even more often depending on sales volume. And that's not even getting into dealing with compliance checks that states may perform at any time.
Bottom line is sales tax is far more challenging to collect than many realize. It's not 50 states, but rather thousands of taxing jurisdictions with numerous different rates, rules, exemptions, etc.
There is talk of simplifying the collection process for on-line retailers, which would lessen the burden, especially to small businesses.
That's because the entire school of thought which is trickle-down economics requires it.
If people aren't spending their money, then the entire theory behind Reagonomics is a fiction, and tax cuts for the rich don't work. ;-)
Since the entire justification for those tax cuts is to get people out spending, you need to do your patriotic duty and get out there and spend like a mad fool or risk invalidating an entire economic theory. It's your job to stimulate the economy and get us out of this down turn by buying stuff.
If they cut taxes and people didn't spent, people might start to think economists don't have a clue.
If you're not gonna spend it, they'll need to tax it. So start spending, or we'll have to try Socialism. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Mod parent up! It disgusts me to hear US Senators not "get" that point.
The customer may owe use tax in their state. The merchant has (or "had", if this turd of a bill passes the house) an obligation only to the states in which they have a physical presence.
And this whole "level playing field" BS? Seriously? How many mom-n'-pops (and don't give me any lip about the $1M threshold, your corner convenience store easily has gross receipts 2-3x that) have to deal with the individual sales tax structures of every US state, countless counties, and even individual towns? And as if that doesn't get messy enough, figuring out which products fall into which tax categories in each of those jurisdictions?
This won't hurt Amazon. This will merely annoy Amazon. It will destroy smaller online merchants, however - If not up front, then when the owner goes to prison for screwing up some obscure detail of NYC taxes on imported llama-hair socks.
If you're not gonna spend it, they'll need to tax it. So start spending, or we'll have to try Socialism. :-P
What do so many Americans have such fear/hatred of Socialism?
"He is so stupid. And now back to the wall!" Moe Szyslak
What do so many Americans have such fear/hatred of Socialism?
Because we like to think we deserve to use the money we earn in the way we choose.
Yup, countries like Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and the Netherlands are well known for their atrocities and killings.
Seriously, just because you can cite a couple of really awful examples of historical groups who had the word "Socialist" in their name, doesn't mean you can equate all forms of socialism with killing.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Because "somewhat less rational" people confuse socialism with communism, as demonstrated by parent.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Not only this, but most people hear $1M in online sales, you must be rich!. They don't seem to realize that $1M in sales != $1M in profit. I do consulting work for a couple clients that are above the $1M per year in sales mark. One did about $1.4M in sales last year and had profits of less than $200k. The other did about $7M in online business last year and still had profits of less than $1M.
Add in the additional legal and accounting costs for having to track at least 50 different taxing jurisdictions and up to potentially almost 10k and be up on all the changes to tax law and try to figure out what items are taxable where....it's a nightmare. No only that but it's a legal minefield. For instance our state exempts certain grocery items from sales tax. And some of the things considered grocery items gets funky. An example: a big bag of potato chips are a grocery item. A small sized bag at a snack counter is not. Charge sales tax on the wrong item and get caught and the fine is rather steep even if it's an honest mistake.
If I have a retail location in this state, I get to keep a percentage of the sales tax I collect to cover the cost of being the collector. What about the other states? How much of that tax collected will be owed? Now you times this by at least 50 opening up your legal liabilities tremendously.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
No, that is not what voting is for. That is what personal responsibility is for. Voting is for electing people and collectively deciding directly on very few issues that involve all of our society. The money that I earn does not fall into that category. What I make and do with my money is none of your fucking business.
Perception is the thin dividing line between reality and fiction.
Yup, countries like Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and the Netherlands are well known for their atrocities and killings.
Some of us consider an NBA team in Toronto an atrocity...and don't get me started on Lars Ulrich's attack on Napter back in the day...
We also like to pretend that we earn every dime that goes are way, and in no way are dependent on society at large for the potential to do so. We are by-and-large stuck up pricks who don't understand social contract theory, it's all about freedom.
If you gave us Americans a multiple choice test about how the world works we'd just go down and answer every single question "C. Freedom" without reading what it said. Well, some would answer "Jesus" to every question, but the lever of understanding reflected is the same.
Because it is the antithesis of the values and principals that America was built upon.
We value the individual, the person that can take his own matters into his own hands and succeed. Personal responsibility and individual effort are what brought such success to the US over its life, until about now.
The thought has been in the US, that the government is there just enough for basic needs (military, police, fire, etc), and largely stays out of your way to allow you to succeed or fail as you see fit.
Many (self included) see the recent years of people depending ever more on the govt., not taking responsibility for their own actions, people not being allowed to fail, and more and more intrusive govt. as being the major factors into our fiscal and economic woes.
The US was built upon the individual small business, and right now, it seems most all levels of govt are going out of their way to make this more and more difficult and kill things off.
The US was built and succeeded with methods directly opposing true socialism.
The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I think I understand social contract theory just fine and I reject it outright because of its 1) similarity to slavery/indentured servitude (we are all born into a system owing something to that system) and 2) contracts are things you enter into voluntary, yet social contract theory is neither voluntary nor something clearly negotitated and agreed upon by two parties. Social contracts also put the individual at greater risk to direct democracy. Social contract theory also puts everyone at odds. Everyone suddenly becomes debtor and debtee.
America is a solution to an optimization problem: maximum individual liberty. Not maximum quality of life, not maximum education, not maximum civil welfare. If you want to maximize these, I highly recommend totalitarianism. The US certainly didn't need to bother with States, Checks and Balances, and local government if this weren't the case.
I trust in the good of individuals to do the right thing. You seem to trust in the good of society to do the right thing, often at the expense of the individual (or at least under the assumption the individual will not do the right thing). While your code may be a more expedient means to an end, mine respects has a greater respect for rights of the individual without resulting in the use of force or turning people against each other. Keep your social contract. I'll keep my freedom.
Canada, Denmark, and New Zealand are higher than the US on the Heritage economic freedom index. They openly admit to some socialism and they are freer than we Americans are. Finland and the Netherlands are also pretty high up there.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?