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 ...
Nice way to end a recession, a@@holes.
Go ahead, Demoweenie asshats, make our day...
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.
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.
Not to worry. Obama pledged that he would not raise taxes on anyone making < 250k.
Get ready for the fingernail growth tax.
democrats always raise taxes.
this is destructive—sales taxes + shipping will make the net uncompetitive.
“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!”
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...
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.
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.
Good timing...
You are right. This will require a fee to be added on to brick and motar store sales so everything is fair.
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.
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.
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.
How could such a scheme possibly pass Constitutional muster?
I buy from Amazon too and usually don't pay shipping if the bill is $25 or more. What is prime?
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