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 ...
Businesses should raise hell about this. As it stands now, I never buy from Internet merchants that charge sales tax unless they also give me free shipping. I’ll be darned if I’ll pay tax AND shipping when I can go to the mall five minutes from my house. The main reason I shop on the Internet anyway is because I can do it at midnight in my jammies!
Thanks. I signed up for http://paperbackswap.com. Now I have to figure out if there are any books I would like to contribute.
What is a “BN?” Is that a word?
Barnes and Noble abbreviation. I got lazy inserting the &’.
What Amazon wants is a single, rational sales tax regimen for online purchases. They don’t want to have to have some programmer creating special-case code every time the Chigger Armpit, WV city council declares a tax holiday on overalls or whatever. More to the point, they don’t want Chigger Armpit, WV to play “gotcha” games of monkeying with the tax code and then siccing the city attorney on them when they fail to update their system instantly.
“...eliminating what its supporters view as a “loophole”...”
Isn’t it amazing that anything which favors the People is a “loophole” ?
“Get ready for the fingernail growth tax.”
Followed by the fingernail death tax, the fingernail disposal tax, the fingernail accessory luxury tax, and the Troubled Fingernail Relief Act.
“...won’t pay sales taxes at checkout time that they would if shopping at a local mall.”
Right. I’ll just get in my 14mpg SUV and *drive* to the mall, and I’ll let the bitch sit there and idle for a while, too.
The reduced fuel usage and economy of scale of shipping ought to be good enough reason to excuse the sales tax if these idiots were really concerned about “global effing warming.”
Damn, I hate politicians.
No $hit, $herlock.
And furthermore, Californians don't pay for Amazon.com's police and fire protection or the education of Amazon's and B&H's little children.
Not to mention, workers at Amazon and B&H don't contribute very much to the wear and tear on California's worn and torn highways (except when they travel there on vacation, and then they have to pay California's exhorbitant fuel tax) or, certainly, to the crime statistics. California spends a large portion of its tax revenues keeping an increasing number of its population behind bars, too, but is that something that Amazon and B&H are in any way responsible for?
Face it, you liberal pukes, the sales tax was meant to provide the funds for gummit services to those within the sales tax area. It was never meant as a catch-all way to balance the commercial scales so local businesses could compete with those in other states or countries. That's what a tariff eventually evolved to: protection, not funding government operations.
If the Congress passes this monstrosity, we can only hope the Supreme Court will come to its senses long enough to rule it in violation of the interstate commerce clause.
Wow! Have you met others who have had the same experience?
Article I.
Section 9.
Clause 5. No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
Clause 10. No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State in Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control of the Congress.
Sustained and protected loudly and forcefully by his capon media.
Do you still give your credit card number to Amazon when you buy a used book and buy it through them or do you have to deal directly with the seller?
Does Amazon have instructions on how to do this?
Thanks
Thanks
It has in Virginia.
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