Internet Sales Tax Hurts Businesses and the States that Pass Them

Red State ^ | 11-14-13 | John Stephenson

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

This past month, the Illinois State Supreme Court determined the state’s affiliate nexus law—a law requiring out-of-state companies with advertising affiliates in the state to collect and remit sales tax—violated federal law.

In the majority opinion, Justice Anne Burke ruled that Illinois’ attempt to force collection of sales tax by out-of-state retailers based on their decision to use in-state online advertising rather than traditional print advertising represented a discriminatory taxation regime on the Internet and therefore violated the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act.

No one understands the significance of last month’s Illinois State Supreme Court decision better than FatWallet founder Tim Storm. A year after the affiliate nexus law’s introduction, Storm and his 54 employees piled into thirty-odd cars and moved from their business headquarters in Rockton, Illinois to Beloit, Wisconsin—a five mile drive across state lines.

[2harddrive]

I am surprised the Illinois Supremes made such an intelligent decision!

[BitWielder1]

Companies will pack up and move to more favorite climates whenever they can.
That's why the tax crazy left are such one-world enthusiasts - they want to make sure there is nowhere to escape to.

[MarineBrat]

I quit buying from Amazon because I will not pi** away good money to Sacramento. I find better places to shop on the net.

[dragnet2]

Items sold by Amazon.com LLC, or its subsidiaries, and shipped to destinations in the following states are subject to tax:

Arizona
California
Connecticut
Georgia
Kansas
Kentucky
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
North Dakota
Pennsylvania
Texas
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin

[MasterGunner01]

There's another, similar situation.

Let's assume you want to buy a refurbished laptop on sale from Dell in Texas. Further assume you live in Illinois. You would not normally pay state sales tax because this is an out-of-state sale. But, Dell has at least one franchise store doing business in the state and so, you'll be charged IL sales tax for a purchase made in TX.

However, you live next to the state line and you have a friend that lives in Iowa. You buy the refurb laptop from Dell (TX) and have it shipped to your friend in IA. No sales tax is charged.

You'll still have to pick it up in person in IA or have it shipped to you (IA to IL), but you've escaped IL sales tax. This is called flipping the rigid digit to the IL Department of Revenue.

[Fledermaus]

TN is subject to the tax as is many states with a use tax law. It’s just my responsibility to report it and pay it.

[MarineBrat]

I needed to purchase a light for my swimming pool this summer. The brick and mortar stores around here wanted well over $300. I found it on Amazon for about $240, but at the checkout they added $20 TAX. I backed out at the last minute because I didn’t remember ever being charged tax when purchasing something from Amazon before.

Then I found http://www.sunplay.com located in Utah. They had the same item for $199, with free shipping and no sales tax. Done and done. And I’m done with Amazon. I will do my online shopping with businesses that don’t make deals with the devil.

[MasterGunner01]

Amazon.com might be good for somethings, but for large purchases, I find that with a thorough web search, you can find just as good and cheaper than Amazon. There are many sellers who simply are too small for the regulators to bother with at the present. I’d give them my business. I’ve always been pleased.