A potential bonanza (Internet sales tax)

Sac Bee ^ | 2/21/03 | Ed Fletcher

[NormsRevenge]

Pre-ordering the new "Harry Potter" installment is a snap. Through bookseller Barnes & Noble, you can do it online, over the phone or in stores.

Only in the store, however, will the bookseller ask you to pay the state sales tax.

[NormsRevenge]

Lawmakers advocating taxing e-commerce are careful to say their effort is about fairness.

"This is about collecting sales tax, not about taxing the Internet," said state Sen. Deirdre Alpert, D-Coronado.

According to one study, e-commerce transactions cost California $1.75 billion in lost sales tax revenue in 2001 alone.

When govt offcials feel cheated out of "their" due.. It is time to kick those officials to the curb.

America used to be a land of choices, now it is a land of taXes.

[Drango]

If ALGore invented the Internet, Grey Davis can kill it.

[NormsRevenge]

It's an "entitlement" to some politicians, if not most, it would seem.

All your taxdollars are belong to us.

[Reeses]

"Some companies have created fictional companies, I think, to avoid paying sales tax," Alpert said.

Notice how the Democrat phrased it as the companies avoiding paying sales tax. Companies never pay sales tax, they only collect it from the customers.

Another weird thing is that sales taxes are not progressive, they tax the poor much more on a percentage of income than the rich. If they made it a income tax rather than a spending tax, it would only be 3 percent instead of 10 after the double taxation.

I think traditional mail order still has more sales than the internet, yet they've always been sales tax free for interstate commerce, as protected by the US Constitution.

[Protagoras]

When govt offcials feel cheated out of "their" due.. It is time to kick those officials to the curb.

The reelection rate for incumbents is way over 90%. That will not change. Nothing they do (collectively) keeps the lemmings from voting for them.

Heaven help you around here if you even suggest not supporting anyone from one of the parties.

[NormsRevenge]

The reelection rate for incumbents is way over 90%. That will not change.

Good point.

[dark_lord]

I think traditional mail order still has more sales than the internet, yet they've always been sales tax free for interstate commerce, as protected by the US Constitution.

And mail order companies can use the Internet and don't need to charge sales tax, for the same reason. It has always been the case that if a company has a "physical presence" in a state, they must charge sales tax there - this holds true for catalog retailers as well.

So a lot of this is just media hype and states trying to threaten retailers that have not been charging sales tax when they are required to do so.

Bottom line - some company that has a big distribution warehouse in one state, and sells on the Internet, only needs to charge sales tax for that one state. And if that company is located in a state that does not charge sales tax - they are completely off the hook.

[robertpaulsen]

I've got another potential bonanza -- a luxury yacht tax. The government will make millions, and only the rich will suffer.

[Renegade]

I believe there was a time before the internet when people shopped locally . If YOU don't use it ,THEY lose it !!!

[Protagoras]

I've got another potential bonanza -- a luxury yacht tax. The government will make millions, and only the rich will suffer.

Tried and discarded. But like all really bad ideas, it will arise anew.