Free Republic

On April 1, as was widely known, Japan raised its sales tax from 5% to 8% - a move many dread could unleash a recession as happened the last time Japan hiked a consumption tax in 1997. A week later the verdict on just how much consumption was frontloaded ahead of the hike is in, as we get the first sales data on the ground. The result is, in short, a disaster: overnight the Nikkei reported that Japanese department store Takashimaya’s revenue in April 1-7 period crashed 25%!  We for one can't wait to see what Japan's Q2 GDP...

The Texas Legislature’s point man [Drew Darby] on transportation funding says Texas motorists need to understand that a higher gas tax would be a more 'open and transparent' way of dealing head on with the state's transportation crisis than the 'congestion tax' that motorists are currently paying every day. "I think we need to revert to pay as your go," State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) told the San Antonio Mobility Coalition."Nine times members of the Legislature have raised the gasoline tax to pay for our transportation infrastructure, but that hasn't happened since 1991. Lawmakers over the past several years...

In the coming weeks, Americans will spend an average of 13 hours and $210 to prepare their federal taxes. Beyond the compliance burden the federal tax code imposes, it also distorts economic activity and discriminates against some taxpayers in favor of others. But one of its most egregiously unfair provisions is also among its most popular - the mortgage interest deduction. In theory, the mortgage interest deduction is supposed to encourage home ownership, a questionable goal for government to begin with. The purpose of taxes is to raise money to finance government services, not to manipulate human behavior or economic...

"A new rule in the Alabama tax code that went into effect at the end of last month will change the way some companies collect and remit sales taxes....Put simply, the new rule's aim is to have businesses pay taxes to the county and city governments in places where they do business.",,,In short if you want the store to deliver that refrigerator to your home, now they won'tbecause this requirement costs them time and money.....the state has not announced this and retailers don't know but are liable.,,,,

As the holiday shopping season approaches, consumer may find an unlikely adversary: the retail industry. According to reports, “big retailers like Walmart and Apple ramp up their holiday ads early this season” and “Representatives from leading retail associations name online sales tax legislation as a chief concern for their members right now.” That’s right, the retail industry is targeting online Christmas shopping. What proponents misleadingly call the “Marketplace Fairness Act” would significantly increase the cost of buying goods on the Internet. The bill would force online businesses to collect and remit sales tax based on each customer’s location. Put another...

Massachusetts residents have only a few days of tax-free shopping left on Amazon.com. Beginning Friday, the state will apply its 6.25 percent sales tax to purchases made from Amazon, though the tax will not apply to third-party vendors who use the site. The state reached an agreement with Amazon last year. Owners of traditional "brick and mortar" stores have long complained of being at a competitive disadvantage to online retailers who are not required to collect sales taxes. State revenue officials tell The Boston Globe the tax on Amazon purchases is expected to raise nearly $37 million for the state...

Jefferson County commissioners on Wednesday were informed the sales tax in the county will be going up 0.25 percent on Sept. 1. The state Legislature voted to increase the state sales tax to 5.75 percent. Coupled with the county's 1.5 percent sales tax, purchases made in Jefferson County will have a 7.25 percent sales tax. County Commissioner Tom Gentile expressed some displeasure with the announcement. Gentile said the state's budget surplus has grown to $1.5 billion, the state has taken money away from local governments and then is raising the state sales tax. The Ohio Department of Taxation is mailing...

What type of tax reform do you want? Simplification of the existing progressive income tax system? A flat tax? A sales tax? A value-added tax? Tax professionals, economists, elected officials and others heatedly debate the pros and cons of each. However, it is unlikely that real tax reform will occur until the financial crisis gets so bad that most people will agree to radical change. Most tax reform discussions and debates lead with the premise that any new tax system has to raise roughly as much revenue as the present system. Why should that be? Currently, the federal government spends...

Whenever there are tens of millions of dollars worth of lobbying muscle behind a piece of legislation, folks seem willing to say just about anything to make a case for it. The Marketplace Fairness Act, the misguided legislation to allow states to enforce their tax laws on out-of-state businesses, is but the latest example. Here are the top 10 bogus arguments in favor of the bill.

Entrusted with a government credit card, an Internal Revenue Service worker allegedly used the plastic for a years-long Amazon.com shopping spree that netted her hundreds of items, including a chocolate fondue fountain; Bollywood movies; Pampers; Harlequin romance novels; Omaha Steaks; Apple Bottoms skinny jeans; mango body wash; and a Ginsu knife set. According to a court filing, Oseni was given a Citibank MasterCard for the “purchase of office supplies for her business unit.” However, a probe by the Treasury Department’s inspector general determined that Oseni has made scores of unauthorized purchases since being provided the IRS credit card in mid-2009....

S. 122: Fair Tax Act of 2013 Summary: A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the States. More info ... http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s113-122 93% support out of 836 votes as of this post.

<p>As seemingly every sentient being now knows, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has apparently been selective when it comes to the entities its agents scrutinize. Tea Party groups in particular (organizations known to be less sympathetic toward the IRS) seem to have generated abnormal amounts of attention from it.</p>

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that he likely couldn’t support the online sales tax bill that the Senate passed this week, underscoring the challenge that supporters face in getting the measure through the lower chamber. Boehner told Bloomberg Television that the Marketplace Fairness Act, which got 69 votes in the Senate on Monday, would heap a “big burden on some very small businesses.” "I just think that moving this bill where you have 50 different sales tax codes, it is a mess out there,” Boehner said. “You are going to make it much more difficult for online businesses to...

The US Senate on Monday passed a bill aimed at ending tax-free shopping on the internet but the move looks set to face fierce opposition before it becomes law. The Marketplace Fairness Act, which has cross-party supporter and the backing of powerful retailers, would give states the power to require retailers with sales over $1m to collect state and local sales taxes for online purchases.

The internet is the most recent, best equalizer for small businesses hoping to make it a business world that requires millions in facilities, start-up, advertising, and delivery. That is why the following letter caught my attention regarding the proposed, new online sales tax. It is such a great, concise summary of the wrong-headedness of the internet sales tax. The great businesses spawned by the advent of the internet, the googles, facebooks, and amazons, are now huge. But the smaller businesses and potential start-ups are the real story. Please read the following letter and, if it mirrors your sentiment, strongly consider...

There is a bill working it’s way through the Senate that will tax internet sales transactions. President Obama has said he endorses the bill to raise taxes and will sign it. Before being “for” or “against” the bill using heuristics from your personal beliefs or talking points from the competing factions, it’s important to know what a government tax is. Put simply, it’s a hurdle or roadblock. If you want less of something, tax it. Taxes make marketplaces less efficient. Taxes are also a limit to personal freedom. Some see taxes as a revenue generator for government. But, governments can’t...

WASHINGTON (AP) — You don't see this very often: a majority of Senate Republicans voting to make people who buy stuff on the Internet pay state and local sales taxes. The Senate could vote as early as Thursday on a bill to empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. Under the bill, the sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives. On Wednesday, the bill passed a test vote in the Senate, 74 to 23, with 27 Republicans voting in favor. Senate Majority Leader...

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...

Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal has bowed to the inevitable and "parked" his plan to swap Louisiana's personal and corporate income taxes for a broader, steeper sales tax. It was a dramatic way to open the Legislature's fiscal session Monday. It was also, of course, a political reality. The governor's plan wasn't going anywhere. But here's hoping the fact that Jindal's initial proposal has now been taken off the table doesn't mean state tax reform leaves the scene, too. As the second part of NOLA.com's headline notes, he called for an "alternative plan," and hopefully legislators will follow through on that...

Today, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) President Karen Ignagni issued a press release in support of bipartisan legislation (H.R. 1370, S.1880) co-sponsored by Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Jim Matheson (D-UT) to repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) health insurance tax. While much of the dialogue on healthcare reform centers on the federal mandate of health coverage for all Americans - which many conservatives call the largest tax increase in U.S history - less attention is being given to the massive sales tax increase on the purchase of health insurance also implicit within the legislation that will dramatically escalate costs...