Majority of states pressing for taxing all Internet sales

9news.com ^ | 6/3/2005 | Paror Farer,

[olde north church]

DENVER - 9News has learned that 43 states have joined together in a coalition to collect sales tax on all Internet purchases.

You already pay sales tax when you go online to buy from an established business like Eddie Bauer or Wal-Mart. But a lot of small Internet businesses and individual transactions float under the radar.

[Gabz]

The overseas operations don't have the same problem yet.

Actually they have a worse problem - the shipments are being seized when they hit american soil.

[olde north church]

I'm surprised the media hasn't chimed in with how regressive sales takes are.

[RandallFlagg]

You haven't pinged SL yet?

Hasn't she been the one to warn folks about this for some time now?

(Of course, back then it was only about smokers; non smokers didn't care. They may now, though.

[muawiyah]

Look, you can't get good fighting cocks by mail anymore either. They've shut it down!

About the only place you can go these days to find a prime rooster is an Indian reservation.

(BTW, I was part of the "they" on that one ~ did you know that if you have a bunch of young chickens and you've not properly sexed them, and desexed the roosters, what will happen one days is you will wake up and have but one chicken left. Those little critters are nasty. They fight to the death.)

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Politicians are tax junkies.

Yep, you can bet your boots that it is not the people who support the tax, just the pols.

[FreeRep]

Don't tax me. Don't tax thee. Tax that man behind the tree.

[ChildOfThe60s]

"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."

- Ronald Reagan

[highlander_UW]

The first step in the government removing the freedom of the internet. How long before they try taxing individual emails...or each post in a messageboard? The Dims are angry at how the blogs have been knocking out their heros such as Dan Rather. They will not be satisfied until the freedom of the blogs is diminished, and taxes will be the way they will try to do it.

[bobdsmith]

wtf is wrong with people who want to tax every single point of a money transfer. They tax you for what you earn, they then tax you for spending it now they want to tax sales on the internet.

[oldbrowser]

So if 50 states agree, and laws are passed to allow collection of the tax, doesn't this mean that all of the internet businesses will simply incorporate in Bermuda or Monaco or whatnot? These states have no clue about basic economics.

Along with a sales tax there is a companion tax called a "use tax". Thus if any item witch would be taxable in you state is purchased from an out of state source without tax the the use tax is applicable and at the current sales tax rate.

[SheLion]

No No! The US Postal Service brought out that they will NOT baby sit the mail. They don't have the time or the help. Which is a very good think.

And I think the FEDS do not like being told what to do!!!! heh!

 

5-30-05

Congratulations to our United States Post Office for holding the line and respecting Federal law.  Now, if our federal government would only stand up to the State Attorneys General too and defend our Constitutional rights.....

"The Postal Service, citing concerns about the privacy of the mail and wary of putting postal clerks in the position of deciding which packages to accept and which to reject, is resisting the growing calls that it stop shipping cigarettes.

"Postal officials say that they are committed to fighting illegal activities conducted through the mail, but complain that their hands are tied. They note that Priority Mail, which officials say is most frequently used to ship cigarettes, cannot be inspected without a search warrant or the consent of either the sender or the recipient.

"Tobacco is a legal, mailable product," Mary Anne Gibbons, the Postal Service's general counsel, wrote last month in a response to the association of attorneys general. "It would be impracticable for postal acceptance clerks to make determinations on any given mailer's compliance with state excise or tax law or Jenkins Act filings."

The news that the United States Post Office will not stop delivering cigarette shipments was really great, but this story is even better!!!  I found it on the Smokers' Forum, and Samantha already has it recorded in the Smokers Club Newsletter, Inc.  It's a great start........

5-31-05 - PORTLAND, Maine -- A federal judge has struck down portions of a Maine law designed to prevent youths from smoking.

U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby said that while Maine's statute is laudable and well-intentioned, it runs afoul of federal interstate commerce laws by impeding delivery services.

Maine's 2003 law requires procedures to verify that those who purchase tobacco by mail are old enough to do so. It was designed in part to prevent youths from ordering cigarettes online and also to assist the state in collecting taxes that would otherwise be unpaid.

Under the Maine law, the person to whom the tobacco products are addressed must be at least 18 years old and must sign for the package. If the buyer is under 27, a government-issued identification must be shown at the time of delivery.

After the law was enacted, United Parcel Service announced it would no longer make consumer tobacco deliveries in Maine because it would have to modify its procedures for one product. The New Hampshire and Massachusetts motor transport associations, and Vermont Truck and Bus Association, whose members include cargo carriers, sued.

In his 37-page ruling Friday, Hornby agreed that Maine's law forces UPS to vary from procedures it uses in its international delivery system, which can affect the prices of its service and interfere with the orderly flow of packages.

The judge agreed that states may regulate the delivery of contraband, but only if it does not "significantly affect a carrier's prices, routes or services."

Hornby noted in his ruling that he had denied a preliminary request to block enforcement of the state law, but "now I conclude that two of the three challenged state provisions cannot survive the broad pre-emptive language of the federal legislation" and two recent decisions by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ruling traces federal pre-emption of interstate commerce to an 1887 law. While Congress has written into the law some areas that are exempt from federal pre-emption, the Maine Tobacco Delivery law "fits none of the exemptions," the judge wrote.

Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution for the United States of America prohibits taxation of interstate commerce.

 

[SheLion]

Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution for the United States of America prohibits taxation of interstate commerce.

[SaveTheChief]

"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."

- RONALD REAGAN

[Logical me]

This is dangerous. Sales tax will depend on its meaning. Is subscribing to a site that require a fee a sales tax. You bet your a@@ it will be. Currently they are trying to fool us by leading us to mean a sales tax on merchandise. I subscribe to many sites that require a fee for an ID and a Password. You have to watch these a@@holes. They are determined to tax us to death. For instance, remember the seat belt law. Only a ticket if you were stopped for a violation and were not wearing a belt. How did that go. Same thing here, government will just not leave us alone. Mark my words.

[Sender]

Don't forget the air we breathe...it blows across state lines, clearly interstate commerce...tax it!!!

[calex59]

Yes, it is just one tax after another trying to get all of our money,no sense in letting us keep, we will just spend i on things we want! In California they are starting new ads to try and get people to give their old cars away "for the children" with breathing related illnesses. Just give your old polluting vehicle right here to the goobermint of CA and the State will be a better place for the children. What jerks!

[Colorado Buckeye]

There is another factor that needs to be made about Colorado. We have TABOR and it limits how much the government can spend regardless of tax receipts. So, in the good years, the internet tax would simply increase our rebates. The state wouldn't be allowed to keep it.

[JoeGar]

North Carolina already taxes internet sales. When one files his NC tax return, he is supposed to declare and pay a "use tax" on all internet purchases or telephone catalog purchases for which taxes were not charged by the vendor. I understand a number of other states also do this.

[pepperdog]

Wow! Now there's an idea that needs exposure to the light of day. Maybe if people ever understand that they are already taxed nine ways from Sunday they'll understand why no more taxes are needed.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Politicians are tax junkies. "Just one more tax, only one more tax...."

No. Basically, our politicians are crooks. They are total low life, scum inferiors. Why we vote these crooks into office blows my mind.