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Web tax on tap - Feds look to bail out strapped state coffers
nypost.com ^ | April 17, 2011 | MARK DeCAMBRE

Posted on 04/17/2011 6:37:04 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

The e-tax man cometh.

As early as this week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told The Post he will propose sweeping legislation to tax all online purchases -- in a move aimed at closing state budget shortfalls.

Such a tax would plow more than $1 billion in tax revenues into the state coffers for the 2012 budget, according to some estimates.

William Fox, University of Tennessee economics professor, says that based on his own estimates, New York lost about $865.5 million in tax revenues in 2010 -- almost enough to close that year's $1 billion budget deficit -- based on its 4 percent tax rate. However, Fox acknowledges that a research report he helped author last year didn't appropriately factor the blistering pace of online sales growth over the past several years.

Fox estimates that the annual growth rate for online sales is actually about 14 percent from 2006 to present.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California; US: Illinois; US: Michigan; US: New York; US: Tennessee
KEYWORDS: illinois; michigan; newyork; tennessee; turbandurbin
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1 posted on 04/17/2011 6:37:04 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Here's a wild idea, Turban Durbin: How about cutting spending to reduce state and federal budget shortfalls instead of jabbing to find more taxpayer veins to tap?
2 posted on 04/17/2011 6:40:43 PM PDT by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

great. now we’ll have to order overseas or black market to avoid their grasping hands.

Are these people brain dead or something (I know, they are democrats so of course they are brain dead). They want to kill all e-commerce.


3 posted on 04/17/2011 6:41:16 PM PDT by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Its never freaking enough for these bums.


4 posted on 04/17/2011 6:41:35 PM PDT by GlockThe Vote (F U B O ! ! !)
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To: John O

Hubby smoked. For years I bought cigarettes from the Indian reservations.....til Congress made it illegal. He quit smoking.
I order a ton of stuff online. If they do this I will quit spending....period.
I refuse to participate in their schemes.


5 posted on 04/17/2011 6:44:46 PM PDT by sheana
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To: GlockThe Vote
Gee, and Obummer floats his Internet ID idea again. Coincidence? I think not.
6 posted on 04/17/2011 6:45:03 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Feds taxing on behalf of States. Hmmm. Call me skeptical.


7 posted on 04/17/2011 6:47:58 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Won’t pass the House, so nothing to worry about...unless someone tells Boehner that we have to vote for it or the country will die. He falls for that a lot.


8 posted on 04/17/2011 6:48:58 PM PDT by Defiant (When Democrats lose voters, they manufacture new voters instead of convincing the existing voters.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Fine. I won't buy anything.

How is it that politicians can be soooooo stupid? I can make do with everything I have. I'll fix what breaks, sew what tears, yard sale my kids clothing needs, and cook every meal. We have a house with a pool and we decided a while ago, that was our vacation, infinitum.

We played a great game today helping my son with his spelling words for school. You get it wrong you get thrown in the pool. He got to ask me any word he could come up with and if I got it wrong, he got to push me in the pool too.

The next game for my son will be an economic one. It will be how to live on no or minimal purchases.

9 posted on 04/17/2011 6:49:51 PM PDT by blackdog (The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop)
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To: dhs12345

Remember when all the states discounted their tobacco settlement money in order to gain a one time lump sum, applying that to their budgets to “balance” them without cutting spending!


10 posted on 04/17/2011 6:53:49 PM PDT by blackdog (The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop)
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To: blackdog
Starve the Beast!
11 posted on 04/17/2011 6:54:20 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA (Let's apply the "reasonable man" standard to gun laws. How many would stand?)
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To: sheana

YEP....I’ve been gathering up “items” for the past 2 years that I think we might want/need over the next 10+ years...instead of waiting....luckily we can do that financially....plus I figured what with “retirement” looming....best buy the stuff now, than wait until fersher we have no money! (We are fine for retirement....unless, of course everything collapses....but, then we’ll be in the same boat as everyone else.) I’ve been wondering when the QUIT spending time would come...looks like we are getting close.


12 posted on 04/17/2011 7:01:10 PM PDT by goodnesswins (Unlike the West, the Islamic world is serious.)
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To: Army Air Corps

Thanks for ruining my night. Lol.


13 posted on 04/17/2011 7:02:41 PM PDT by GlockThe Vote (F U B O ! ! !)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Right now, e-commerce is one of the few shining lights in this hosed economy. So what does Fed.gov want to do? Tax it.

Can't we have any good thing in life without Fed.gov taking a s**t on it?

14 posted on 04/17/2011 7:05:40 PM PDT by AAABEST (Et lux in tenebris lucet: et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt)
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To: GlockThe Vote

No worries! :-)
This schmuck and his minions awaken in a new world every day.


15 posted on 04/17/2011 7:06:30 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: AAABEST

At this rate, they’ll try to tax sexual intercourse.


16 posted on 04/17/2011 7:07:34 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I owe my state about $80 in sales tax for my online purchases this year (on about $1800 in purchases). On a per-person basis, this isn’t a big deal, especially since most people were paying these sales taxes before they started buying things online.

If people don’t like the idea of sales taxes, they should fight to get their state to remove sales taxes. If people think the sales tax is a good way to raise revenue, then they should support collecting the sales tax fairly across all purchases, rather than letting on-line purchasers get off scot-free while the rest of the citizens of the state carry their load for them.

I’m all for cutting tax burdens, but it should be done by law, not by making it easy for SOME people to cheat on their taxes at the expense of more law-abiding citizens who pay their taxes that the law requires, including the “use tax” for online purchases.


17 posted on 04/17/2011 7:11:14 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: sheana

Have you considered getting a forged tax-exempt permit? With one of those, you can buy things at your local store and they won’t collect the sales tax.

Of course, it is illegal to forge a tax-exempt permit; but it’s also illegal in virtually every sales-tax state to NOT pay a “use tax” on online purchases that aren’t taxed.

Durbin isn’t adding a new law here — your state likely already has a law requiring the payment. Durbin is proposing making it easier for people to obey the law by collecting the sales tax at the time of purchase. I know it would be easier than collecting the information through the year and filing a form to pay at the end of the year, like I do now.


18 posted on 04/17/2011 7:13:51 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: blackdog

Do you refuse to buy things from your local store because they collect the sales tax for you?

Why would having the online stores collect the tax for you make you quit buying things online?

DO you already refuse to buy anything from online stores that do business in your state (and therefore collect sales taxes)?


19 posted on 04/17/2011 7:15:53 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: CharlesWayneCT
I recall you being relatively anti-tax in general, until this one particular issue.

You must have a dog in this fight.

20 posted on 04/17/2011 7:24:23 PM PDT by Lazamataz (The Democrat Party is Communist. The Republican Party is Socialist. The Tea Party is Capitalist.)
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