Free Republic

Monday, September 12th at 12:00 Noon on the corner of Markham and Broadway The Chamber of Commerce is calling for a "Early Vote PRO 1 cent Sales Tax" Rally. The Arkansas Tea Party is asking you to make a sign Against Any New Tax and stand across from them. No shouting, No Chanting.....just to have our presence in opposition to a new tax!!! Rally against the Little Rock Sales Tax Monday September 12th! _________________________________________________________ We need people to cover polling sites with signs and flyers opposing urging people to vote NO (against) on the LR sales tax increases September 13th!...

SACRAMENTO -- The big showdown between traditional retailers and the online sales giant Amazon may dissolve into one big handshake. Amazon is considering backing away from a referendum to overturn a law forcing the company to collect sales taxes if a deal can be worked out with brick-and-mortar retailers and legislative leaders, according to Capitol sources. Amazon would get a two-year reprieve on California taxes but would pledge to support Congressional action on leveling the playing field on Internet sales taxes nationally, according to one person involved in talks between the traditional retailers and Amazon. The negotiations took place Tuesday...

PLEASANT HILL -- To get a good deal, Paul Brodman used to buy cigarettes online. Little did he know, those smokes weren't the bargain they appeared to be. There's no getting out of paying state taxes simply by buying cigarettes online. Earlier this month, Brodman received a bill for $1,398 from the State Board of Equalization for back taxes and penalties he owes for 100 cartons of cigarettes he bought online from an out-of-state retailer in 2007 and 2008. Initially, Brodman thought it was a mistake. "We smoked them; we didn't resell them," he said. "I wasn't selling them on...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduces legislation that would require online retailers such as Amazon to collect sales taxes. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) plans a similar measure in the House.

A Senate committee listened Tuesday to the pros and cons of expanding Maryland's sales tax base to include more services, as well as goods purchased over the Internet. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee spent the day in Annapolis receiving briefings on taxes, the federal debt ceiling, education funding and toll increases. Legislative committees meet occasionally between the 90-day General Assembly sessions. Tangible products, but few services, sold by Maryland retailers are taxed at 6 percent. This year, the sales tax is predicted to generate $4.2 billion, about 30 percent of the state's general fund revenue, according to the Department...

Amazon.com is negotiating a deal with Texas officials that would see the online retail giant promise to create more than 5,000 jobs and invest $300 million in the state over the next three years. In exchange, lawmakers would have to grant Amazon a 4½-year exemption from collecting tax on online sales in Texas, according to documents obtained by the American-Statesman. The proposal would be attached to Senate Bill 1, the fiscal matters bill being debated in the Legislature's special session. SB 1 is a must-pass measure essential to balancing the state's 2012-13 budget. The American-Statesman obtained a draft copy of...

DALLAS — Amazon.com wants to make a deal with the state of Texas. The proposed offer circulating around Austin and obtained by The Dallas Morning News would let Amazon off the hook for collecting sales taxes from its Texas customers over the next 4 ½ years, and would bring 5,000 jobs to the state. The company also is promising to spend $300 million to open distribution centers where those employees would work. Finally, it wants the Texas comptroller's office to set up a website where its customers can send sales tax owed on Amazon purchases to the state. Historically, voluntary...

Prospective presidential candidate Michele Bachmann says she wants a national sales tax, but can’t vote for it because she believes Congress would just add it to the current income tax system. In a profile in The Wall Street Journal, Bachmann says she loves the FAIR tax proposal but just cannot bring herself to back it in the House. “If we were starting over from scratch, I would favor a national sales tax," the three-term Minnesota congresswoman says. But the reality is that if it were enacted, the chances are “we would end up with a dual tax, a national sales...

Japan closer to doubling sales tax amid fiscal woes Friday 03rd June, 07:00 AM JST TOKYO — The Japanese government on Thursday announced a social security reform plan that would result in a doubling of the country’s consumption tax rate to 10% in stages by the year through March 2016 and lower pension payments to the elderly with higher incomes. The move came as the country has been struggling under swelling welfare costs due to the aging population, which have added to the government’s difficulty in restoring its fiscal health, the worst among major developed economies. But the reform initiative...

Internet companies such as Amazon and Overstock are threatening to pull out of California rather than collect state sales tax on tens of millions of dollars worth of business, the Los Angeles Times reports. The move comes after the Golden State’s Assembly passed a law expanding the tax to Internet sales for companies that have a physical presence or sister companies with offices there. The move passed the Democrat-controlled lower house on Tuesday on a 47-16 vote. It now goes to the Senate. [Snip] One Republican voted with the majority. The rest rejected the move saying it would drive business...

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) plans to introduce a bill after the Easter recess allowing states and local municipalities to collect sales tax revenue for online purchases, according to a CNET News interview with a Democratic aide on Tuesday. It is a bad idea but judging from President Obama’s deficit speech yesterday, Democrats in congress are hellbent on raising taxes by any means, especially on the wealthy. In the case of an internet sales tax, they would be hitting all segments of of the population. The Heartland Institute has been out in front on this issue. Three of their scholars...

COBB COUNTY, Ga. -- Dueling rallies were held in Cobb County on Sunday as residents prepared to have a direct say in whether a local sales tax continues or is cut. Voters will decide on Tuesday as one of Georgia’s largest counties hold a special election for the issue. Supporters of continuing the special sales tax in Cobb County held a rally Sunday afternoon. The group believes the tax monies would keep Cobb County strong. But earlier on Sunday afternoon, the more vocal anti-tax groups gathered and chanted, “Ax the tax.” Bryon Jones is one of a couple hundred people...

Given the huge amount of controversy about California (770 miles long, 250 miles wide) vs. Amazon... California has decided it wants to worry more about some fish than the central valley, which has been one of the highest, most prolific, profitable areas in the world for years (remember "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Chinatown"? I suspect the tax revenue California might get from a booming central valley exceeds Amazons total revenue by billions. But CA decides it would rather go after an entity in another state. Do you know what they call it when an organism manages to not produce...

March 2, 2011, 4:32 PM Amazon warns it will leave California affiliates over tax law Paul Demery Managing Editor The retailer will cut ties with affiliates if the state passes sales tax legislation. Amazon.com Inc. told California tax officials this week that it will cut ties with thousands of California affiliates if the state passes pending legislation requiring the online retailer to collect sales tax from California customers. Amazon, contending that four bills pending in the California Legislature appear to be unconstitutional or would “construct Trojan horses” leading to unconstitutional regulation, said passage of any of the bills into law...

HARTFORD (AP) — Devotees of coupons and discounts are angry at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposal to slap a new sales tax on the original price of a good or service rather than the discounted price. Ending the sales tax exemptions for coupons, discounts and automobile trade-ins are among tax exemptions Malloy has proposed ending to help close the state's projected $3.5 billion deficit. For example, the tax would be imposed on the $30 price of a blouse, not the $15 sales price. Gina Juliano learned firsthand after she lost her job in 2009 as a vice principal in the...

As a result of an ongoing tax dispute with Texas, Amazon.com has decided to take its ball and go home. The online retailer said Thursday that it would shutter its Irving distribution facility April 12 and cancel plans to hire as many as 1,000 additional workers rather than pay Texas what the state says is owed in uncollected sales tax. Texas wants $269 million from Seattle-based Amazon in past-due sales tax. It sent the bill to the company last October. “Despite much hard work and the support of other Texas officials, we’ve been unable to come to a resolution with...

Could a national sales tax help fix the deficit and gain enough political support to break the stalemate in the nation's capital? Yahoo! reader Brad Sylvester believes it could. Following a contentious midterm election, some 81 percent of respondents to a recent ABC News/Yahoo! News poll said they expect partisan warfare and inaction to continue over the next two years. ... There are plenty of ideas on how to return the government to fiscal responsibility. ... Many Republicans refuse to consider any tax hikes at all. And many liberal Democrats — who, ironically, may have even more power in the...

An estimated $1.145 billion in use tax owed by Californians goes unpaid each year, according to an estimate released today by the state Board of Equalization. BOE noted that much of the unpaid total is the result of consumers purchasing from out-of-state retailers not required to collect California tax. Many of those purchases are made online or via catalog orders. BOE said the use tax owed is the same as the sales tax that would be due if the purchase were made from an in-state retailer. BOE said it is reminding holiday shoppers to save receipts, calculate the use tax...

California’s business tax climate is second worst in the nation, better only than New York’s, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation. New Jersey managed to move up two spots on the list after four straight years as the nation’s worst business tax climate... The index is based on the premise that taxes matter to business and states don’t raise or lower taxes in a vacuum. “The modern market is characterized by mobile capital and labor. Therefore, companies will locate where they have the greatest competitive advantage...

According to Amazon, last month the state of Texas issued the company an assessment of $269 million for uncollected sales taxes for a four year period from Dec. 2005 to Dec. 2009. Amazon says the assessment is "without merit" and says it intends to "vigorously defend" itself in the matter.