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Posted on 04/23/2013 1:54:01 PM PDT by Jean S
Proposed Internet sales-tax legislation received a huge boost on Monday when the White House officially backed the bill, saying it would level the playing field among online and retail stores by ensuring that both pay sales taxes.
“Today, while local small-business retailers follow the law and collect sales taxes from customers who make purchases in their stores, many big-business online and catalogue retailers do not collect the same taxes,” White House press secretary Jay Carney. “This puts local, neighborhood-based small businesses at a disadvantage to big, out-of-state, online companies.”
Now, the Senate is scheduled to debate the Internet sales-tax legislation for the remainder of the week, and the bill is largely expected to pass (a similar, nonbinding amendment was approved weeks ago, 75-24).
The so-called “Marketplace Fairness Act” would allow a state to collect sales tax on Internet purchases made by its residents, even if the Internet company has its headquarters in a different state. It would exempt online companies with sales of less than $1 million a year from collecting or paying the sales taxes, and it would add roughly $10.1 billion a year to local government coffers, according to the Congressional Research Service, at a time when most states are looking for any and all fiscal fixes.
But, the essence of the fight really pits industry against industry.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes, but nobody would join in.
“If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not a single dime.” - Barack Hussein Obama, Feb. 24, 2009
In New Mexico it is call the “Compensating Tax.” If you buy something from out of state that you could have purchased in New Mexico - regardless of price difference - you are expected to pay 5% to the state. This is enforced for businesses, but less so for individuals.
When we lived in Florida my in-laws bought us dining room furniture while traveling in North Carolina (they owned a lighting showroom and often bought furniture for resale from out of state). Unfortunately they had it shipped directly to our home. About a month after we received it, we received a sales tax bill from the State of Florida. They tried to charge us on the full retail value of the furniture, but we had an invoice showing the true sale amount, so we just paid the sales tax on that.
We were later told that if the furniture had been delivered to my in-law’s store and then delivered to our home, we would not have owed the tax. It would have been considered a “zero sale” by our in-law’s store and no one would have paid tax...go figure...
Grouped by Home State
Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Yea Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska: Begich (D-AK), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Not Voting
Arizona: Flake (R-AZ), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas: Boozman (R-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Not Voting Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Bennet (D-CO), Yea Udall (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea Coons (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Nelson (D-FL), Yea Rubio (R-FL), Nay
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii: Hirono (D-HI), Yea Schatz (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Yea Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Kirk (R-IL), Nay
Indiana: Coats (R-IN), Yea Donnelly (D-IN), Yea
Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Moran (R-KS), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: McConnell (R-KY), Nay Paul (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea King (I-ME), Yea
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Cowan (D-MA), Yea Warren (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Minnesota: Franken (D-MN), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri: Blunt (R-MO), Yea McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Nay Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Fischer (R-NE), Yea Johanns (R-NE), Yea
Nevada: Heller (R-NV), Nay Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire: Ayotte (R-NH), Nay Shaheen (D-NH), Not Voting
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Not Voting Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Heinrich (D-NM), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York: Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Yea Hagan (D-NC), Yea
North Dakota: Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Portman (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Not Voting Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Toomey (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Yea Scott (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Cruz (R-TX), Nay
Utah: Hatch (R-UT), Nay Lee (R-UT), Nay
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia: Kaine (D-VA), Yea Warner (D-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Manchin (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Baldwin (D-WI), Yea Johnson (R-WI), Not Voting
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Yea Enzi (R-WY), Yea
This is such BS. Many of my Amazon purchases are supplied by small businesses.
But... It would exempt online companies with sales of less than $1 million a year from collecting or paying the sales taxes
Of course someone could have a small business, sell 1.1 million of merchandise that they had to buy for 1.05 million dollars, which leaves them 50K in “EEEVIL” profit...
If they are supporting a family that is near poverty level....
Way to break shit Obama...
Same here since they started collecting CA sales tax.
I use to order quite a bit from them.
Small time operators who make their living on bulk purchases that sell more than 1 million that have razor thin margins are gonna get screwed over, they are gonna need obamacare to install a new asshole in them after this.
On the other hand, Congress is placing a burden on Internet businesses that brick and mortar businesses don't have to do. The Internet businesses must collect taxes for all states and localities. A brick and mortar business does not unless they required all purchasers to identify their state.
Five states have no sales tax: NH, DE, OR, AK, and MT. So a brick and mortar business in those states would be required to have each customer provide a state of residence, calculate the sales tax for the that state, collect it, and then deposit into that state's coffers. Under the proposed Internet law, the brick and mortar businesses would not be required to collect such taxes.
They’re quick to say “it’s not a Federal tax. If that’s the case why not leave it to the States? Just more Federal intrusion into the domain of the States.
Need to watch which Republicans go wobbly on this one
And just how are all the Mom & Pop online stores going to know what the sales tax is supposed to be for tens of thousands of local districts?
I thought it was unconstitutional to have interstate taxation?
Article 1 Section 9:
“No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.”
Roberts will just rule it as a fee not a tax...
Five states have no sales tax: NH, DE, OR, AK, and MT. So a brick and mortar business in those states would be required to have each customer provide a state of residence, calculate the sales tax for the that state, collect it, and then deposit into that state’s coffers. Under the proposed Internet law, the brick and mortar businesses would not be required to collect such taxes.
The only “good” thing could be that it could cause more states to get rid of their state sales taxes.
what gets me is our side (they few we have) are always on the defensive trying to hold them off. I know our real numbers are small. But it would be encouraging if even a few of them introduced and spoke of TAX CUTS. It may be futile but we need to somehow try to shift the debate to growth and lower taxes - even if it is only a few people yapping about it and finding clever ways to get on air. Impossible given this environment? perhaps. but we should never give up
Yeah, that will help the economy.
Shipping costs are an important variable in the online purchase calculus. But so is time travelling to a shopping center, fuel for the car, dealing with cashiers who can’t count change; for those averse to shopping, the pain points are multifarious. The value of online shopping vs brick & mortar retail will vary with the friction of distance and the conduciveness of specific product classes to the online purchase experience. Does taxation tip the balance over to the BM retail interests?
In the end, taxes hurt everyone - and as noted, on many purchases the tax is already being collected, so this law does nothing. In New York state for example, if you itemize your state income tax, you have to (~ahem voluntarily) declare online purchases and calculate the tax the state of New York expects.
Per the article, the administration is claiming the legislation will “allow a state to collect sales tax on Internet purchases made by its residents, even if the Internet company has its headquarters in a different state.”
Say what? That’s already happening...so what’s the legislation really about?
Control. Political favor. The “right” thing to do.
You are correct, but the government, through the USSC, has ruled that if a company has a “presence” in a State, tax can be charged for purchases. Silly, and wrong, ruling, but there it is.
This new law, though, doesn’t even make that pretense.
I hope some organization is able to file suit against it.
Lot of work putting that table together. I hope you didn’t have to hand code that.
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