Posted on 03/06/2018 2:50:44 PM PST by Kaslin
Or more? How about over a thousand.
If they do this I want every B&M store to have to check the id of all customers, collect and remit the appropriate sales tax to the tax areas where that person resides.
No more driving to another tax district avoid paying taxes on your pop.
You want this, you are going to get it, good and hard.
Excellent point!
IF this is all about creating a level playing field, brick and mortar stores need to abide by the same rules as these internet stores. Wow what a mess this would create.
Why have car dealerships been allowed/forced to charge tax based on the customer’s residence, I wonder?
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
Ronaldus Magnus The Great
We sell used and collectible so what we sell has had sales tax paid on it at least once but we have to collect and pay it again for all in-store purchases.
And now they want to do this to us?
My State government came after me for taxes on internet purchases. Of course, I was buying individual cartons of cigarettes, which probably put a target on my back. Stopped doing that because I didn't like being on the radar.
I understand both the States’ and the brick-and-mortar merchants’ dilemma. When the Commerce Clause was conceived, the idea behind prohibiting taxes and duties on interstate trade was to prevent States from being protectionist by discriminating against out-of-state merchants in favor of in-state merchants. The founders believed this would stifle economic growth and competition.
The e-commerce marketplace has turned that original rationale on its head, where online interstate commerce is now so easy and common it is the in-State merchants that have a competitive disadvantage - specifically because they have to collect sales taxes on their transactions.
While this article is better than most in sizing up the situation, it still lacks several key points.
First, although Quill did prevail in the US Supreme Court, the Court did find that Quill had a sufficient nexus under the Due Process clause. The decision in Quill’s favor ultimately hinged on the burden placed on out-of-State merchants, and that burden being substantial enough as to violate of the Commerce Clause. I’m not persuaded at all that the burden is any less today. By some estimates there are more than 6,000 taxing jurisdictions in the USA. Expecting on-line merchants to register with each, collect properly for each, and to report and remit for each is a monumental task. It also opens up questions of whether the merchants would then also owe other taxes to the various States, such as gross-receipts, personal-property taxes, income taxes, etc.
Another issue barely even acknowledged is that there already is a requirement for each States’ residents to pay a “use” tax on items acquired out-of-State, and where sales tax wasn’t already collected. The States will have to prove to the Court’s satisfaction that all of these on-line merchants should and can do what the States themselves are unable or unwilling to do on their own. More succinctly, why is it the responsibility of out-of-State merchants to collect taxes that the States won’t collect directly?
Third, if they were to accept the “Economic Nexus” theory, having the out-of-State merchant be responsible only when revenue or transaction counts exceed certain thresholds, might that violate the Constitution’s Due Process Clause and/or Equal Protection? Why would Wayfair have to register, calculate, collect and remit, while Joe’s Bait-Shop doesn’t?
Every “solution” introduces new problems, so really aren’t solutions at all. Congress hasn’t acted because they can’t agree themselves which of the many possible “remedies” is better than the status quo.
I know, it’s crazy. And then they would be expecting you to treat your in-store purchases differently than online purchases. That’s hypocrisy.
I was going to start a small online business in Tennessee. But the regulations involved with selling food got the best of me and I decided it wasn’t worth my time and effort any longer. I wouldn’t be allowed to sell to the other states and the customer base in Tennessee would be too small to make it worth it.
Just dealing with Tennessee sales tax was going to be time-consuming, this would’ve been overwhelming.
I just got a bill from my state government wanting me to pay sales tax (estimated) for the two years after I had shut the business down.
They want sales tax on transactions that never happened.
Now I can deal with my state government but can you imagine getting that kind of bill from say, New York?
This is the kind of thing that will drive mom and pops out of business. We can not hope to comply. We can not afford to argue when they make a mistake. And the big boys will be laughing all the way to the bank.
“Now I can deal with my state government but can you imagine getting that kind of bill from say, New York?”
Oh, I can absolutely imagine it. I lived it. We shut down a business in Tulare county California. Then a few years later we moved to Tennessee. They hunted us down, insisting that we pay personal property taxes for those years the business was shut down on the business equipment that we no longer had.
Calling them was futile, since the idiot on the phone could barely speak English. Finally got a manager to call back and she said I needed to prove that the business was closed. Apparently their form that I sent them where I checked that the business was closed was not good enough.
They wanted federal tax returns for all the years that the business was closed. I contended that I would give them schedule A and schedule C but the rest of it was none of their business. At this point I was just being obnoxious because I couldn’t stand the Nazi tactics they were using. I thought about sending them complete tax returns, including all the H&R Block worksheets. It would’ve been thousands of pages :-) but about that time they relented that what I had sent them was good enough.
I’m so glad I left that commie state. But even leaving doesn’t stop them from trying to go after you. And liberals think we need more government!
“The States will have to prove to the Court’s satisfaction that all of these on-line merchants should and can do what the States themselves are unable or unwilling to do on their own. More succinctly, why is it the responsibility of out-of-State merchants to collect taxes that the States won’t collect directly?”
A well-put question. The stages trying to put the burden on individual businesses seems even more ridiculous the way you put it.
Harmless teddy bear brought up another hypocritical scenario. HTB Has a brick-and-mortar store that also sells online. They would have to treat online customers differently than their walk in customers. The walk-in customers would pay the tax rate at the location of the store, while the online customers pay the tax rate where they live.
I suppose this discrepancy is already set in place. But if the Supreme Court is attempting to level the playing field, there shouldn’t be two different tax rates depending on how you purchase the same merchandise from the same store.
I had to convince them four years ago that a debt write-off from a stolen identity was not taxable to me. Now if they ever find the thief they can tax her.
Then two years ago I had to show them that gross income was different then net income.
Now this.
The worse part of it is these people are paid by our taxes to harass us.
Yep - and if one buys a car in one State but doesn’t register it there, they end up paying the sales tax in the State they do register it in - one way or another, some State will receive the taxes.
Aren’t you the idiot that keeps calling me an anti-semite?
By the way, Cohn bailed, Mnuchin to soon follow.
Mission accomplished, they have transferred the tax liability to the middle class and called it a tax cut.
That expires for the middle class, but NOT for the corporations.
Pretty crafty, if you ask me.
I would never use them again..........
Teleflora.................
Correct. And township borders often straddle zip code boundaries. The retailer would need to have their sales system connect to a service bureau to figure out the sales tax associated with an address, and for a business doing small transactions it would not be worth the hassle.
No, I'm the non-idiot who calls them as I see them. And when your anti-semitic posts get deleted, you can blame someone else.
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