Posted on 07/07/2011 2:54:43 PM PDT by AdamBomb
NASHVILLE -- Gov. Bill Haslam said Wednesday that untaxed Internet sales are eroding Tennessee's tax base and said he's willing to take a leadership role among governors in urging Congress to pass a national approach to collecting sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet.
He said Tennessee is already losing between $300 million and $500 million a year on untaxed Internet sales --- a growing number since the states and Congress have been unable for more than a decade to agree on a "streamlined sales tax" process enabling online retailers to collect taxes easily for the nation's thousands of state and local taxing jurisdictions.
"It's not going to begin eroding the state's tax base; it already is. Something has to happen nationally. The whole streamlined sales tax is a big deal, and I'm more than willing to play a leadership role," Haslam said.
(Excerpt) Read more at commercialappeal.com ...
Haslam: “Daddy says that I should tax his gas stations. That I should only tax the internets cuz you canst buy gas on the internets. Daddy says I owe this to hims cuz he boughts de election for me.”
Haslam: “Daddy says that I should NOT tax his gas stations. That I should only tax the internets cuz you canst buy gas on the internets. Daddy says I owe this to hims cuz he boughts de election for me.”
KaBOOM!
Ever hear of cutting spending instead of raising taxes? Shame on RINOs.
Some said Governor Corbett was a RINO, but most of us are impressed. Sorry about your real RINO.
What a POS! You guys need to recall that Commie Rat.
Everything bought on line and shipped into the state of Tennessee is subject to the use tax. Businesses have to pay if they are audited and the purchase is discovered. It is impossible to audit ordinary taxpayers.
Companies with a presence in Tennessee are required to charge the tax on internet transactions
California attempted a similar law and Amazon jerked the privileges from all California affiliates
I voted for Ramsey, and while Haslem has run a fairly conservative course to this point (got rid of collective bargaining, for instance), I’d expect as much from him.
Funny this happens as Tennessee has been attempting to woo Amazon to put distribution centers in Tennessee.
That said, it’s absolute crap that Amazon is able to slither out of taxes when they do have distribution center in Tennessee when other retailors who have distribution centers in Tennessee do have to charge sales taxes. I’ve grown increasingly tired of these special deals to particularly large corportations. I’d be much more in favor of a flat tax with no exceptions. The current system is way too exposed to corruption and bribery.
I think the word “tax” shows up and a lot of people automatically assume it is wrong. But if you look at it from a mail order or brick and mortar store’s perspective, they have to have higher prices to the final consumer so they can collect the sales taxes from them. The internet companies that dont have to do that, can offer a lower final price.
So the option to equalize opportunities would be to have no sales tax at all, or have everyone collect sales tax the same way.
The issue that gets tricky is the sales tax is local, so it would be a tax on the Tennessee buyer. But if the seller is in California, how does Tennessee collect the taxes from them?
There have never been sales taxes on catalog sales; it would kill the catalog (or online) sales if that had to be added to shipping charges.
No local store can offer the range of products that Amazon and Ebay offer. In the old days, no local store could offer what the Sears catalog offered.
Kill off those sales, and local sales won’t improve much; and customers will suffer the loss of choice (besides having to spend a lot more to first find what they want, and then get it).
You forgot to include the shipping and handling that the mortar stores have to add.
Using the link from a previous poster, you find this site which shows there have been catalog use taxes since 1947 in Tennessee. How would sales tax kill the internet business? Most of those are wholesale operations or sell directly in bulk, so they can offer 25-30% off retail price. Adding 8% sales tax, the internet businesses would still have lower prices.
http://www.tn.gov/revenue/tntaxes/usetax.htm
Using the link from a previous poster, you find this site which shows there have been catalog use taxes since 1947 in Tennessee. How would sales tax kill the internet business? Most of those are wholesale operations or sell directly in bulk, so they can offer 25-30% off retail price. Adding 8% sales tax, the internet businesses would still have lower prices.
http://www.tn.gov/revenue/tntaxes/usetax.htm
Sure, he can be the first one to take a swift kick in the ass on his way out the door of the Governors mansion.
Jokers like this guy ought to be put in stocks for a couple of days, then given a one way plane ticket to Cuba.
Tennessee ping.
Conservatives seem to have trouble winning statewide Republican primaries there lately.
I didn’t vote for Two-Face Haslam, either in the primary or the general.
What he is supporting is a national unified sales tax collection system, the same one Amazon.com supports. According to Red State.
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