Internet sales tax? yea or nay?

[Blooper]

I'm curious as to why some people think that the mere act of me purchasing an item entitles some government entity proceeds from that sale.

I'm curious as to why corporations feel as though they should have the right to operate for private interests. You know bit that allows them to do so was originally meant to protect African Americans' property rights?

 

[RightNorLeft]

Times change. Let the brick and mortar stores join the 21st century and start selling online. Why should the rest of the country cater to them? They used to deliver ice to homes too, but then freezers were invented. Should we have taxed them so the ice delivery people could compete?

Thats a good point, business types and practices have always rolled over and changed and some have been made obsolete by technology and progress.

 

[Skull Pilot]

IMO it's the same as me buying something in a no sales tax state and then driving it to my house.

No one is standing on the state border asking me to show receipts for what I bought out of state.

 

[slackjawed]

While I am certainly no fan of paying sales tax, it is a legitimate revenue stream for state and municiple governments.
I think it should be collected and distributed at the point of sale.
I use Amazon frequently, and did not have to pay sales tax until they moved their distribution to Arizona. Now I pay Arizona sales tax on anything I order from Amazon.
I don't just support this if the tax is collected for my state, I think sales tax should be collected from online sales in whatever state the seller's facility is located in.

There is no denying that every online seller must have a brick and mortar facility somewhere. That facility benefits from the infrastructure in which they are located, so why shouldn't that locality collect those sales taxes without regard as to where the customer orders from.

 

[editec]

I'm undecided right now because on the one hand you can get some good deals but on the other, I'm short-changing mom & pop. brick & mortar stores & not contributing to the public purse for firemen, police, state's rainy day funds, etc...

Some states have internet sales taxes tacked onto one's purchases but the majority of states do not recieve any sales tax for internet sales right?

Give me your position & the reason you support it other than the standard response of "its cheaper"

I think its inevitable.

As more and more brick and mortar businesses are driven out of business, as more and more people take advantage of the economy of scale that many internet retailers have over local businesses, STATES (that count on sales taxes) are going to have to find SOME WAY to capture enough revenue.

Today I am going to buy some perscription glasses.

Locally they would cost me about $400.

Buying them via the net?

I'll be getting TWO PAIR for aboutr $40.

PLUS, I won't be paying the State of Maine the $20 sales tax I'd have to pay to get my glasses locally.

Multiply my translation by millions per day, and you begin to see that the STATES and LOCAL businesses are in serious trouble.

 

[Sarah G]

I'm undecided right now because on the one hand you can get some good deals but on the other, I'm short-changing mom & pop. brick & mortar stores & not contributing to the public purse for firemen, police, state's rainy day funds, etc...

Some states have internet sales taxes tacked onto one's purchases but the majority of states do not recieve any sales tax for internet sales right?

Give me your position & the reason you support it other than the standard response of "its cheaper"

I pay tax on some things, I don't want them to go too far on this one because we are also required to pay shipping and there goes any deal you may have gotten buying over the internet.

This comes up about every two years.

 

[Underhill]

The tax is charged at the point of sale - if any. That is as it should be. If a seller in a different state has to collect both his state's sales tax and yours and then deliver the taxes collected to every other state then how many jobs will be lost over that? How would you go about tracking each sale, the taxes owed and collected and the state the order is delivered to? What a friggin' nightmare!
I use the internet when there is no decent local dealer selling the merchandise I desire. Sometimes I pay sales tax and sometimes I don't but I never pay more than tax for one state and it is usually the state in which the sale originates.

New York charges sales tax on internet purchases in state. Why would it be so much more difficult to expand that to all customers? If the shop is in NY anyone buying there pays NY taxes. If in PA you pay PA taxes...

It would actually simplify things for businesses rather than having the dual tiered system we have now.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Times change. Let the brick and mortar stores join the 21st century and start selling online. Why should the rest of the country cater to them? They used to deliver ice to homes too, but then freezers were invented. Should we have taxed them so the ice delivery people could compete?

Exactly. When automobiles started becoming more mainstream politicians were clamoring for subsidies to the buggy industry so they could stay afloat. It's nonsense.

 

[Dot Com]

quite a few good constructive comments here but not much in the way of links. Come on people.

I came up w/ a compromise last night, how about taxing BUT at a lower rate for online sales. Maybe even 1/2 the rate or whatever rate will negate the shippping cost as a factor plus give them a margin to make up for the start-up costs of say building websites to advertise.. There's a few things that can be done here.

 

[Underhill]

quite a few good constructive comments here but not much in the way of links. Come on people.

I came up w/ a compromise last night, how about taxing BUT at a lower rate for online sales. Maybe even 1/2 the rate or whatever rate will negate the shippping cost as a factor plus give them a margin to make up for the start-up costs of say building websites to advertise.. There's a few things that can be done here.

Why undercut brick and mortar businesses? You mention shipping cost. But those online retailers are competing with companies who have to pay the cost of running an actual store, which are significantly higher than the cost of running an online business out of a warehouse.

So I think they should all pay the same.

 

[S.J.]

quite a few good constructive comments here but not much in the way of links. Come on people.

I came up w/ a compromise last night, how about taxing BUT at a lower rate for online sales. Maybe even 1/2 the rate or whatever rate will negate the shippping cost as a factor plus give them a margin to make up for the start-up costs of say building websites to advertise.. There's a few things that can be done here.

How about lowering the tax on the brick and mortar businesses instead of taxing the online sales? Why punish the consumer?

 

[Dot Com]

quite a few good constructive comments here but not much in the way of links. Come on people.

I came up w/ a compromise last night, how about taxing BUT at a lower rate for online sales. Maybe even 1/2 the rate or whatever rate will negate the shippping cost as a factor plus give them a margin to make up for the start-up costs of say building websites to advertise.. There's a few things that can be done here.

How about lowering the tax on the brick and mortar businesses instead of taxing the online sales? Why punish the consumer?

brick & mortar stores are "closing shop" because of cheap online competition is why. People are treating the b& M stores as "showrooms" then going home & purchasing online.

Local Stores Become Showrooms for Online Buying | Street Fight

 

[Underhill]

Times change. Let the brick and mortar stores join the 21st century and start selling online. Why should the rest of the country cater to them? They used to deliver ice to homes too, but then freezers were invented. Should we have taxed them so the ice delivery people could compete?

Exactly. When automobiles started becoming more mainstream politicians were clamoring for subsidies to the buggy industry so they could stay afloat. It's nonsense.

I have no problem with letting them fail if they can't compete on an even playing field.

But as things stand right now, things are not equal. And it is hurting business. Why should online retailers get a pass on taxes when stores do not?

 

[Toronado3800]

quite a few good constructive comments here but not much in the way of links. Come on people.

I came up w/ a compromise last night, how about taxing BUT at a lower rate for online sales. Maybe even 1/2 the rate or whatever rate will negate the shippping cost as a factor plus give them a margin to make up for the start-up costs of say building websites to advertise.. There's a few things that can be done here.

How about lowering the tax on the brick and mortar businesses instead of taxing the online sales? Why punish the consumer?

As stated abive, we just can't go all Ronald Reagan permanently and not pay for what we have our government do.

In this case it is state governments more directly with sales tax not the Fed but the same rules apply.

One of the pains of a modern first world country. If you want otherwise xonvince more folks of what parts of the government they can do without.

I for one question the corpse of engineers and these permanent obligations we get signed up for building levees around here to help businesses and neighborhoods be built in flood plains. If we can cut that there goes a bit of our tax obligation.

 

[Toronado3800]

I'm curious as to why some people think that the mere act of me purchasing an item entitles some government entity proceeds from that sale.

John, I agree in principal.

However we have this rather fairly ran republic and have signed ourselves up for a few thinfs like being a super power and providing roads and levees and Eisenhower's era's fuarantee we can call 911 and get an ambulance w/o first reading our credit card number.

Those are some reasons the government gets our money.

I can think of a few programs to cut, but until the Reagan supporters who love that defecit die off it will be tough.

 

[Dot Com]

back in the news. I'm an amazon junky, as of late, so I'm following this. Everything you need to know

Everything you need to know about the Senate?s online sales-tax bill

 

[whitehall]

Another ten thousand IRS agents hired to look over your shoulder for a $25.00 sale on Ebay? Say it ain't so.

 

[Dot Com]

senate debate video: U.S. Senate: Cloture Vote on the Motion to Proceed - Marketplace Fairness Act - C-SPAN Video Library

 

[Pop23]

I'm undecided right now because on the one hand you can get some good deals but on the other, I'm short-changing mom & pop. brick & mortar stores & not contributing to the public purse for firemen, police, state's rainy day funds, etc...

Some states have internet sales taxes tacked onto one's purchases but the majority of states do not recieve any sales tax for internet sales right?

Give me your position & the reason you support it other than the standard response of "its cheaper"

No retailer should have a competitive edge like this. I hate it, but yes the Internet retailers should charge the buyer a sales tax for new product. Used, not so sure.

 

[Trajan]

I'm undecided right now because on the one hand you can get some good deals but on the other, I'm short-changing mom & pop. brick & mortar stores & not contributing to the public purse for firemen, police, state's rainy day funds, etc...

Some states have internet sales taxes tacked onto one's purchases but the majority of states do not recieve any sales tax for internet sales right?

Give me your position & the reason you support it other than the standard response of "its cheaper"

If I order an item from say Utah and they have zero presence here in cali., I don't see why I am being charged a sales tax on a simple exchange for goods in that context.

This may also push sales points off-shore.


I also noticed amazon is now down with collecting it, they even sell their collection services to others......so they gave up and joined the money grab, for a crony capitalism gimme to be named later.