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 ...
The Oklahoma Tax Commission has auditors that travel about looking for garage sales, although many don’t comply. As I recall, you had to get a permit to hold a garage sale and then file a casual filer sales tax return.
It’s actually quite easy to be in compliance.
Oklahoma does, however, have an outstanding manufacturer’s exemption.
You’re going to find little quirks like this in any state. Out East they seem to have a penchant for real property transfer stamps. Nothing like a good old tax stamp.
As a matter of fact, what I *wish* people understood at the Tea Parties is how much they actually pay to the government in taxes, fess and surcharges.
People don’t know how much they pay because it’s nearly impossible to track annual sales tax, motor fuels tax, telecom taxes, other fees and surcharges, etc. I noted one fellows sign with a list of taxes. He had it right. The problem is that people don’t freak out about an increase in a DEAF surcharge on their phone bill. Why should they? Everybody wants to help the deaf, the blind, the lame, the poor and the . . . you get the idea.
Do you know how much you pay in USF surcharges on your phone bill? The USF surcharge is designed to be paid by your telecom provider, not you. The FCC allows them to pass it along as a “reimbursement.” I used to work for one of these telecom companies. They used to charge 5x the surcharge as the reimbursement to “offset the costs of compliance.” Let me tell you, the amounts they collected and the amounts the people in compliance were making in salaries were vastly different. Do you have any idea how much your employer pays of this nonsense?
The USF is total BS. It’s about paying for “high cost” areas so that they don’t have to pay too much to get phone service. I could build a network around the world and provide phone access for free with the amount collected from the USF. Oh yeah, it pays for internet access in libraries, schools, etc. They pay top dollar too.
I really don’t think people have half a clue as to what they are really paying in taxes. Throw away your 1040, because that’s just the beginning.
I love your sign. The sad thing is that almost all those taxes are state and local taxes.
It’s been at an end for some time, it’s called “use taxes”, it’s just that they haven’t been enforced.
#161—good post! I don’t think people realize what a “big business” government is! And that includes city, county, state, federal, etc. I don’t feel its about political parties and idealogies. Its about each taxing agency looking out for their “turf” and getting their “piece of the pie.” When I hear that over 50% of people don’t feel we are taxed too much, I fear we have already reached the tipping point as a nation that we have reached in Illinois....protect the Democrat system because people feel they are getting more out of the system than they are putting in. If government continues down the path of confiscating as much as they can, then the whole thing will collapse....
How many times has the phrase “in a little noticed move” shown up in the first sentence of press releases lately? Isn’t the mainstream media supposed to “notice” these things?
I wonder when we're all gonna need a permit to take a $hit. Maybe we'll have to wear a haz mat placard on our @sses and pay a fee for that as well?
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