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Tax-free Internet shopping may be at an end
CNET News ^ | April 15, 2009 | Declan McCullagh

Posted on 04/17/2009 7:33:04 PM PDT by Comparative Advantage

If a little-known but influential alliance of state politicians, large retailers, and tax collectors have their way, the days of tax-free Internet shopping may be nearly over.

A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Congress as early as Monday would rewrite the ground rules for mail order and Internet sales by eliminating what its supporters view as a "loophole" that, in many cases, allows Americans to shop over the Internet without paying sales taxes.

Currently, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors aren't always required to pay sales taxes at the time of purchase. Californians buying books from Amazon.com or cameras from Manhattan's B&H Photo, for example, won't pay sales taxes at checkout time that they would if shopping at a local mall.

"We will have the bill ready for introduction by next Monday," said Neal Osten of the National Conference of State Legislatures. "We finalized the language and now we're working out the remaining issues and adding some new provisions at the request of various stakeholders."

This is hardly a new debate: pro-tax officials and state governments have been pressing Congress to enact such a law for at least seven years. They argue that reduced sales tax revenue threatens budgets for schools and police, and say that, as a matter of fairness, online retailers should be forced to collect the same taxes that brick-and-mortar retailers do.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.cnet.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ecommerce; internet; internettaxes; lping; onlineshopping; schifflist; tax; taxfree; taxincrease
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I'll be contacting my congressmen about this on Monday. These creeps need to stay out of my wallet.
1 posted on 04/17/2009 7:33:04 PM PDT by Comparative Advantage
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To: Comparative Advantage
Then I won't be buying anything.

Nice way to end a recession, a@@holes.

2 posted on 04/17/2009 7:35:44 PM PDT by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: Comparative Advantage

Go ahead, Demoweenie asshats, make our day...


3 posted on 04/17/2009 7:37:47 PM PDT by hunter112 (SHRUG - Stop Hussein's Radical Utopian Gameplan!)
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To: Comparative Advantage

No Problem I will just relocate my Domain to TJ and then the sales will be international and not subject to any state sales tax.


4 posted on 04/17/2009 7:40:21 PM PDT by troy McClure
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To: Comparative Advantage

Well, I still won’t shop at the local Borders or Barnes and Noble....I don’t buy books that have been pre-read by latte-sipping freeloaders.


5 posted on 04/17/2009 7:40:32 PM PDT by clintonh8r (Librerals are more dangerous to liberty than terrorists.)
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To: Comparative Advantage
Big surprise, not! Any way they can think of to tax us they will. Exhaling will probably be the next thing, global warming you know.
6 posted on 04/17/2009 7:42:37 PM PDT by pepperdog (The world has gone crazy.)
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To: Comparative Advantage

Not to worry. Obama pledged that he would not raise taxes on anyone making < 250k.


7 posted on 04/17/2009 7:42:41 PM PDT by ColdWater
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To: pepperdog

Get ready for the fingernail growth tax.


8 posted on 04/17/2009 7:43:34 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: Comparative Advantage

democrats always raise taxes.

this is destructive—sales taxes + shipping will make the net uncompetitive.


9 posted on 04/17/2009 7:45:58 PM PDT by ken21 (the only thing we have to fear is fdr deja vu.)
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To: Comparative Advantage

“We’ve got tax, eggs, bacon and tax. Tax, tax, tax, eggs and tax. Bacon, tax, tax, tax, tax, ham, tax, tax, eggs and tax ..”

“Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, taxity-tax..!”

“But I don’t like tax!”


10 posted on 04/17/2009 7:46:22 PM PDT by RocketMan1
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To: Comparative Advantage

Obama and Congress found a NEW WAY to shut down Economic Growth ?

Such Resourcefulness.....Tax it and it will shrink and make the Govt. look for more ways to Tax Americans, and the Economy shrinks even more.

Harvard Grads are Dumasses...


11 posted on 04/17/2009 7:46:56 PM PDT by 4Speed
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To: elkfersupper
Then I won't be buying anything. Nice way to end a recession, a@@holes

Indeed. This initiative was long in coming but it reveals the totally depraved nature of goobermint today. These turds, from Obama down to the county commish, ought to be celebrating and endorsing the new frontier of the internet but instead seek to drag it down into the cesspool they have created already.

My solution is to turn the tables--buy as little as possible, and when possible buy locally for cash or barter. They can ignore the tea-parties, but if we all practiced austerity for awhile, it would send a message they cannot ignore.

12 posted on 04/17/2009 7:47:12 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: 4Speed
Harvard Grads are Dumasses...

I will second that statement. I bought almost all of Christmas from Amazon.com -- no taxes, no crowds, and no shipping fees as I have prime.

13 posted on 04/17/2009 7:49:24 PM PDT by PhiKapMom ( BOOMER SOONER! Mary Fallin for OK Governor in 2010! Vote Gary for OK GOP Chair)
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To: elkfersupper
Then I won't be buying anything. Nice way to end a recession, a@@holes.

Good timing...

14 posted on 04/17/2009 7:50:21 PM PDT by exist
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To: ken21
democrats always raise taxes. this is destructive—sales taxes + shipping will make the net uncompetitive.

You are right. This will require a fee to be added on to brick and motar store sales so everything is fair.

15 posted on 04/17/2009 7:50:25 PM PDT by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget (July 4, 2009 see you there))
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To: Comparative Advantage

The Rats who run NY have inserted a line on my personal income tax for for me to pay sales tax on anything I purchased out of state in the flesh or on the internet.

I routinely put that number as zero.

I spend thousands either on the internet or in Delaware. Cigarettes on the Indian Reservations. Your 8.25% sales tax is more than the cost of shipping.

Hey Governor Patterson and Speaker Sheldon Silver...screw you. You’ll never get a dime of it.


16 posted on 04/17/2009 7:50:31 PM PDT by Ouderkirk (Democrats: the party of Slavery, Segregation, Sodomy and Sedition)
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To: Comparative Advantage

When it ends, my web shopping will also end.

I refuse to pay these bastards one more dime that doesn’t go toward survival, period.

If they are going to make us live as if we are in a depression, we might as well quit buying anything and force everything to crash. Only then... will we have a chance to rebuild.


17 posted on 04/17/2009 7:52:10 PM PDT by Gator113 (I'm a PROUD RIGHT WING EXTREMIST.... Obama has failed, IMPEACH Obama NOW....)
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To: Comparative Advantage
They argue that reduced sales tax revenue threatens budgets for schools and police

When theses folks cry about an obesity epidemic, they are merely projecting. "Pro-tax officials" are the out-of-control government gluttons that are burdening society en masse. At least the folks scarfing down junk food are helping to keep employment up at the Dorito factory.

How about these useless feeders go on a diet. Talk about excessive consumption disorder.

18 posted on 04/17/2009 7:52:31 PM PDT by Ezekiel (The Obama-nation began with the Inauguration of Desolation.)
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To: Comparative Advantage

How could such a scheme possibly pass Constitutional muster?


19 posted on 04/17/2009 7:56:39 PM PDT by savedbygrace (You are only leading if someone follows. Otherwise, you just wandered off... [Smokin' Joe])
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To: PhiKapMom
I bought almost all of Christmas from Amazon.com -- no taxes, no crowds, and no shipping fees as I have prime.

I buy from Amazon too and usually don't pay shipping if the bill is $25 or more. What is prime?

20 posted on 04/17/2009 7:56:50 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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