Posted on 03/20/2011 9:34:46 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Tax-free shopping is under threat for many online shoppers as states facing widening budget gaps increasingly pressure Amazon.com Inc. and other Internet retailers to start collecting sales taxes from their residents.
Billions of dollars are at stake as a growing number of states look for ways to generate more revenue without violating a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits a state from forcing businesses to collect sales taxes unless the business has a physical presence, such as a store, in that state.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
They are going to send these bussinesses out of the country.
Keep killing off small businesses like these affiliates. Yeah, that’s the ticket for an economic recovery. Government will never cut spending.
Gee, maybe if these states had a more friendly business climate then some of these businesses would set up shop there...
They never learn..... it’s not a failure of taxation! It’s a failure of fiscal discipline.
They will never learn. There is a distinct and evil Parasite class (AKA most government workers) that steal from the hard working taxpayers. The parasite class is immoral and uses the law to crush the productive part of society. It is an evil that grows more powerful with each passing year.
Because government schooling dominates the so called education of most Americans, we have an electorate that has no idea of how massive is the soft tyranny that invades every aspect of our lives.
After Life, Liberty is the most precious of gifts. The evil government parasite class wants every increasing taxes. Cutting taxes is impossible for them to comprehend or accept.
After much reflection, I do believe the only way they will be stopped is either through total economic collapse or a Revolution. No rational person would want either, but the future is likely to unfold along those two paths.
The GOP leadership will in the end fight along side the Rats to prevent any meaningful the return towards Liberty. I can't envision them willingly or peacefully giving up power.
I would support this only if it was a unified 5% sales tax for all states and the tax can be deducted off your federal taxes.
I agree with your excellent post.
I believe we will collapse economically. I see no signs in the GOP that they will take the decisive action needed to put our government and economy (are they even seperate entities anymore?) in order.
I feel horrible for my children because we are squandering their future to support the progressive agenda. My hope and faith lies in God, myself, and my community. I am in an excellent location that can withstand an economic collapse much better than other parts of the country. I still believe there are enough Americans to rebuild the great idea of America and while I fear the pain and tragedy that will occur there is a part of me that wishes the whole thing would simply collapse so we could rebuild it for our children.
Too many of our fellow citizens and leaders seem oblivious to the path we have taken. I have no faith that they will wake up and it is possibly too late given that half our country is on the public teat.
Best wishes to you and yours.
It wouldn’t stay at 5%... California would scream that it wasn’t 10%. And taxes rarely go down.
Well, there’s two sides to this, even from the standpoint of the private sector. Some retailers, like Amazon, benefit because many consumers buy through Amazon because there is no sales tax charged by the retailer. This creates an unfair advantage that can hurt your local brick and mortar retailer who can’t avoid collecting the tax.
The ‘net has destroyed local small brick & mortar retail business.
So the counties and states want to tax the ‘net sales.
Of course this would destroy the out of state ‘net sales that many small business now survive on.
I guess the real goal is to destroy ALL small business.
They have decided that you must have a big business, with gov/military contracts, or should just close up and go on welfare.
What Amazon benefits by not having to charge taxes, they are penalised by the much steeper shipping costs.
The biggest reason why people buy online is because of the enhanced trust factor - for most products these days, it’s rare to be able to open the package before making the purchase, anyway. Online reviews from customers world-over is a better means of arriving at a consensus on whether to make the purchase, or not.
Here’s a thought - cut your bloated effing spending, you stupid, corrupt state government ghouls.
Fixed the title.
If I owned a small retail store myself, I'd sure as hell resent the tax advantage enjoyed by my online competitors.
INTELLIGENT small/local "brick and mortar" resellers are selling their stuff either through Amazon affiliation, or on EBay (and probably many other on-line venues that I don't know about), and are thriving. The ones too stupid to do so deserve to fail.
Malarkey. See #16. I shop at small businesses virtually every day....online.
There are two sides to everything. If something is presenting as negative then you must analyze a way to utilize the positive to your advantage. A small shop can advertise and provide on-line sales also thereby taking advantage of that positive also. God gave us a brain and now the opportunity to use it. Every negative is an opportunity to use it to our advantage.
“Malarkey” yourself!
Some business does not lend itself to “on-line” sales very well, if at all.
Some have Fed. restrictions that make ‘net selling difficult, or add time/expenses that do not occur in a face to face sales.
The ‘net may provide a wider market, but it hardly replaces a thriving LOCAL customer base.
Having a dedicated staff for ‘net sales is no issue for a large corporation, but it’s a major expense for a genuinely SMALL business, one with 1-5 employees.
I know, any business of less than twenty is just irrelevant, not worthy of consideration.
The “small business” that Gov. Org. pretends to care about is 20-50 employees.
I’ve been in retail for the past twenty-five years, I’ve seen exactly what the ‘net has done to sales.
In combination with “Progress” (Big box stores lured into the area by state and county government bribe, er, “Tax deferment”) I, and several others I know have had to reduce staff to survive.
The ‘net may provide a venue for a trickle of steady sales, it does NOT fully offset the advantages the chain stores enjoy.
The box stores have a ‘net presence too!
Once the states succeed in taxing the internet sales, those sales will also be reduced, leaving the chain stores in a stronger position and small retailers at a further disadvantage.
The states are stupid, overall the “lost” ‘net sales tax’s balance each other out.
In the end taxing web sales will only hurt their economy as it drives up unemployment.
Name some.
"Some have Fed. restrictions that make ‘net selling difficult, or add time/expenses that do not occur in a face to face sales."
Name some.
"The ‘net may provide a wider market, but it hardly replaces a thriving LOCAL customer base."
Depends on how astute the marketer is.
"Having a dedicated staff for ‘net sales is no issue for a large corporation, but it’s a major expense for a genuinely SMALL business, one with 1-5 employees."
LOL. My company is a VERY small business. We have six employees. Probably a third of our business is from our website. We have no problem at all managing things. The other two-thirds of our income arises from consulting and direct sales (not local, mind you, our customer base is too dispersed for that), split about equally.
"The ‘net may provide a venue for a trickle of steady sales, it does NOT fully offset the advantages the chain stores enjoy."
No, that's why "agile thinking" is necessary, to find a niche where the chain stores do NOT have an advantage.
"The box stores have a ‘net presence too!"
And yet there are online businesses, selling things, that not only survive, but thrive.
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