Will there be a internet tax collection service?---------

[Stephen Tashiro]

If online businesses are required to collect state sales taxes and the small merchants are correct that this is too complicated for them to handle, I wonder if PayPal or banks will sell a service to small merchants that collects and pays the taxes for them. The merchant would have to funnel all online payments through the provider of that service before the merchant got his share. It seems to me that there would be nothing illegal about providing such a service.

Another alternative would be for small merchants to cease to be independent sellers and only be sellers on sites like Amazon or Ebay, which may do the tax collection.

[Mike Henderson]

Remember that right now, the bill only requires merchants who do $1,000,000 or more in sales per year to collect sales taxes. If you're selling more than a million dollars of goods, you should be able to handle collecting the taxes.

The bill also requires states to provide software to determine the taxes in the state.

But even given that, I expect companies will provide services to determine the taxes (for a fee).

Mike

[John Coloccia]

Thank God. I'm so sick and tired of hearing all my friends complain about the lack of sales tax on internet purchases. We can finally all breathe a sigh of relief.

[Leo Graywacz]

I think it's going to have a hard time getting through the house, which is a good thing by me.

I truly think this is just the states way of over reaching and trying to tax you for something you shouldn't owe. If they wanted to make the taxing correct you should have to pay the tax in the state that you are buying the item from. So if you are in Ohio and you purchase something on the internet in Texas then you would pay Texas sales tax, just like you would if you walked into the store and purchased it from them.

Collecting sales tax from the state you are purchasing the item in doesn't make sense. Except of course to the politicians in that state.

[Gary Hodgin]

Tennessee already taxes internet sales, as well as any other out-of-state purchase. Problem has been in collecting the tax. The tax is called a "Consumer Use Tax."

The state has an agreement with Amazon where Amazon reports to the state and to the consumer how much was purchased during the year. I've received a report at the end of each of the last two years and sent it in. My sales tax is 9.75 percent (includes state and local). Here's the form.

https://apps.tn.gov/usetax/

[Mel Fulks]

I'm seldom in favor of any new taxes. This one is going to happen the only question is how soon.There is just such a glut of vacant commercial property causing a lot of problems and atracting vandalism and other criminal activity.I'm concerned about how people are driving ,there is little enforcement around here. Maybe they will hire some policemen.

[Larry Whitlow]

Tennessee already taxes internet sales, as well as any other out-of-state purchase. Problem has been in collecting the tax. The tax is called a "Consumer Use Tax."

The state has an agreement with Amazon where Amazon reports to the state and to the consumer how much was purchased during the year. I've received a report at the end of each of the last two years and sent it in. My sales tax is 9.75 percent (includes state and local). Here's the form.

https://apps.tn.gov/usetax/

California has this same use tax, and apparently the same collection problems. Don't know about Amazon reporting purchases though.

[Rick Christopherson]

Remember that right now, the bill only requires merchants who do $1,000,000 or more in sales per year to collect sales taxes. If you're selling more than a million dollars of goods, you should be able to handle collecting the taxes.You're thinking about sole proprietorships. $1 million is not very much for a business with employees and expenses. The margin on a product is typically 30%, so out of that $1 million, it leaves only $300,000 for employee salaries and other expenses. That constitutes a pretty tiny company.

The bookkeeping necessary to track every sale made and account for each state/local tax pretty much demands a full time employee. So subtract that from the $300,000, and you don't have much left.


California has this same use tax, and apparently the same collection problems. Don't know about Amazon reporting purchases though.I've seen this mentioned a couple times elsewhere. However, a state does not have the legal authority to impose law on a person or business in another state. That is the reason why this new law is being considered in the first place. It has to be a federal law in order for it to impact businesses outside of state borders. States can only impose law within their borders.

[Leo Graywacz]

I don't think "sales" includes salaries. But if it means gross sales that is still pretty easy to get if you are running a store type business. Especially if you are selling high dollar items.

[Chris Rosenberger]

The internet tax will be another nail in the coffin of this economy. It will be a bookkeeping nightmare for any company. There are not just 50 states with different sales tax rates, there are thousands of localities with different sales tax rates. In some states you do not only have to file a return with the state, you also have to file a local return with each locality.

There was a group several years ago that was try to get the states to agree on one rate for for each state. Then companies would only have to file a return for each state & the states would have to deal with the localities. It never got worked out. If it had, there would have been an internet tax years ago.

[David Weaver]

Thank God. I'm so sick and tired of hearing all my friends complain about the lack of sales tax on internet purchases. We can finally all breathe a sigh of relief.

Mine, too. My friends also hate to pay less. They feel so guilty...almost as guilty as they would if they stepped on a kitten by accident.

[Howard Garner]

And you can not do it by zip code. Many zips cover both in town and rural areas with different tax rates.
Then what is taxable in one state is not taxable in others.
Then is SC there are some things that are not tax, food at 1% and others things at 5% plus many towns or counties with and additional 1%.

As others have said, this is a bookkeeping nightmare.

Howard Garner
Pickens, SC

[David Weaver]

If there aren't software packages that do it already (calculate the tax independently for each zip code), I'm sure there will be. And it will cost more to do and we'll get to pay the tax plus the cost of administering it.

[Phil Thien]

First, I have to wonder why some larger online outlets are in favor of this, or at least aren't very outspoken against. Could it be that they see it as a barrier to entry for new players?

Second, the Supreme Court has previously stated that legislation like this would be okay, as long as it doesn't place a burden on businesses. Well, it is going to be a HUGE burden. Even for businesses doing $1 million. I've collected state sales taxes for 25 years, in a business that at times does more than $1 million a year, and I've undergone one sales tax audit.

The audit was a massive pain in the butt, and in the final analysis the taxing authority sent two people for about 1.5 weeks (wasting my time and effort, too) and walked away with a check for I think less than $400 (because I didn't know I was supposed to collect taxes on the SHIPPING CHARGES for in-state shipments).

But I simply cannot imagine having to undergo an audit for other states. And there will be audits, otherwise there won't be compliance. And that will be a huge burden for a small business.

Third, and not finally, is the law of unintended consequences. This isn't a zero sum game. This isn't a case where the guy that wants the table saw will buy it locally instead of Grizzly because now the sales tax issue is moot. He may not purchase the table saw at all! That's right, folks, this will reduce (possibly substantially) commerce, at least for a while. The taxes collected will increase. But it will actually cost jobs at least in the short term. At a time when this country can least afford to give up any jobs.

[Matt Meiser]

Some enterprising software developer/accountant team could come up with a web service that determines tax for an address and remits it. Probably more complicated as you also need to know what the item is to determine if its taxable. Provide an API to hook into shopping carts and allow the merchant to pay the service company the tax who would remit it. As it would be highly automated, it should be cheap to run--couple accountants to keep up to date on tax codes and some programmers on the labor side.

I think the easy solution is to tax the item based on where its shipped from. From an economic development perspective, New Hampshire would love that. Cook County, IL would hate it. Over time I'd bet you'd see sales taxes level out. States will adjust taxes over time to balance revenue from non-constituents vs. economic development.

Or allow the states to develop some kind of revenue-sharing--tax it at the shipping point's rate, half the revenue stays local, half goes to the state its shipped to. NH residents would hate that, Cook County residents would love it.

[Greg R Bradley]

First, I have to wonder why some larger online outlets are in favor of this, or at least aren't very outspoken against. Could it be that they see it as a barrier to entry for new players?

Second, the Supreme Court has previously stated that legislation like this would be okay, as long as it doesn't place a burden on businesses. Well, it is going to be a HUGE burden. Even for businesses doing $1 million. I've collected state sales taxes for 25 years, in a business that at times does more than $1 million a year, and I've undergone one sales tax audit.

The audit was a massive pain in the butt, and in the final analysis the taxing authority sent two people for about 1.5 weeks (wasting my time and effort, too) and walked away with a check for I think less than $400 (because I didn't know I was supposed to collect taxes on the SHIPPING CHARGES for in-state shipments).

But I simply cannot imagine having to undergo an audit for other states. And there will be audits, otherwise there won't be compliance. And that will be a huge burden for a small business.

Third, and not finally, is the law of unintended consequences. This isn't a zero sum game. This isn't a case where the guy that wants the table saw will buy it locally instead of Grizzly because now the sales tax issue is moot. He may not purchase the table saw at all! That's right, folks, this will reduce (possibly substantially) commerce, at least for a while. The taxes collected will increase. But it will actually cost jobs at least in the short term. At a time when this country can least afford to give up any jobs.
Thank you, Phil. I think you actually "get it".

Advantage to CPAs, Lawyers, Politicians. Killing business, particularly small business. Larger business like Amazon will benefit from loss of competition from small businesses. Costs to be paid by the general public.

[Brian Elfert]

First, I have to wonder why some larger online outlets are in favor of this, or at least aren't very outspoken against. Could it be that they see it as a barrier to entry for new players?


Amazon is in favor of collecting sales tax for all mail order/Internet sales because they already have to collect sales tax in many states. They are losing sales in states where they have to collect sales tax. They went a level playing field for everyone. Amazon is rumored to want to build a distribution center in every large metro area so they can offer next day or same day deliveries. They don't want to do it when it means they now have to collect sales tax. I have no idea how Amazon would be able to keep 50+ distribution centers stocked with goods for slower moving items.

Remember, THIS IS NOT A NEW TAX. States that charge sales tax also charge use tax if you don't pay sales tax at the time of purchase. You still owe use tax if you don't pay sales tax, but almost nobody voluntarily pays the use tax due. This is why states want the merchants to collect the tax due.

[Tom Fischer]

Thank you, Phil. I think you actually "get it".

Advantage to CPAs, Lawyers, Politicians. Killing business, particularly small business. Larger business like Amazon will benefit from loss of competition from small businesses. Costs to be paid by the general public.

Yes, it is a very bad idea, especially right now.
Plus, much of the reason that the country was founded was objections to "taxation without representation".
So, going forward folks in one part of the country are not going to care that their taxes are collected and sent to another part of the country where they have zero voice in how the tax dollars are spent ?
If there is no voting constituency to complain about Government waste, Internet sales tax will just result in accelerated government waste.
I don't think it will work very well.

[David Weaver]

I paid the use tax the last couple of years. But it's getting harder and harder for me to keep track of it, because it used to be that nobody charged sales tax for out of state sales, and now a lot of the online storefronts are consolidating, or drop shipping from in state locations, etc.

As far as amazon being in favor of the tax, remember not that long ago how upset they were about the prospect of having to collect taxes on orders in texas? I think that's where it was. I'd imagine their position has changed now that they collect sales tax in states where they have a physical preference and the "principle" of the original argment will never outweigh what they think their advantages or disadvantages are vs. another business at the time their opinion is expressed. Plus, they're public, and have duty to their shareholders.

Figure that every business has real or perceived competitive positions and their opinion about the tax will be based almost 100% on that, not on principle or what would seem like intuitive reasons. I'll bet even more retailers would be hard core in favor of the internet sales tax if ebay would've kept the old business model with low final value fees.

As amazon has gotten larger and their pricing a whole lot less aggressive, they're now the business type they used to want to compete with, so if they can force any reasonably small provider to be hamstrung with what they have to do, it's in their interest.

I have never heard a small or medium sized retailer have anything fun to say about sales tax, sales tax audits, or rank and file sales tax collectors or business facing agents. I can't see a great reason to impose that on businesses, and don't for a second believe that the revenue collection will offset anything that already exists.

[Matt Meiser]

Michigan makes use tax easy as long as you didn't have any huge purchases. They give you the option of just using a table to estimate it based on your income. I have no problem with that.

[Tom Fischer]

This isn't a zero sum game. This isn't a case where the guy that wants the table saw will buy it locally instead of Grizzly because now the sales tax issue is moot. He may not purchase the table saw at all! That's right, folks, this will reduce (possibly substantially) commerce, at least for a while. The taxes collected will increase. But it will actually cost jobs at least in the short term. At a time when this country can least afford to give up any jobs.

Mention of Grizzly brings up an interesting point. Which is WHY is the sales tax collected, rather than HOW is the sales tax collected.

In the old days, retail sales was pretty local. Goods were made more locally, but not always. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Those folks had kids, went to the local schools, require Police, Fire, etc. Sales tax collected went to pay all this infrastructure, a lot of the expense of the "supply chain" was local or state-wide.

Move on up to Grizzly. How much of the retail price of a TS was spent in your town, county or state. Except for the common carrier guy, none. How much of the cost of a Grizzly TS is even incurred anywhere in the US? probably less than 30%. The rest of the cost is in China. That's where the drain on Municipal services happens.

I do commiserate with local governments burdened with high expenses, massive pension obligations. Collecting an internet sales tax is very tempting. But they don't deserve it. They are not providing any specific service to justify the tax.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Thinking about this further, I realize that I don't know who is taxed by a internet "sales tex". I suppose pre-internet state and local sales taxes were taxes on the consumer making the purchase that only applied if the consumer was within the state or locality when the purchase was made. There's the further technicality of whether the purchase is only the act of paying for the good or whether it includes delivery of the good. If a resident of Texas is visiting Arizona and makes an online purchase that is processed on a computer in Colorado and shipped to Texas from Utah, it isn't clear to me how many of those states can collect taxes.

State and local governments try to entice businesses by granting companies or entire geographic areas tax exemptions. Can that game can be played with internet taxes? For example, could a state declare an internet tax-free zone to entice people to visit that zone? (I'm not trying to debate the politics of doing this, I'm just curious about the legal technicalities.)

[mike holden]

My personal belief is that sales taxes will eventually be collected on internet purchases. I think however, that rather than trying to match the taxes to the purchasers' state taxes, taxes will be based on the seller's state tax. Failing that, then there will be a standard sales tax no matter where the buyer and seller reside.
Mike

[Mel Fulks]

I don't agree there will be problems collecting . The tax if initiated by Feds does not have to observe any state lines etc.They could make it flat and kick back to states or whatever. Supreme Court rulings already say tax laws do not have to be inherently "fair". A few years back they essentially ruled that revenue bills don't have to start in the house. House members were afraid to start tax bill but were in favor of one .Got senate to do it as changes to existing tariffs etc. Went to court and was upheld. Yes ,the economy is frighteningly bad but the way things are now retail stores are serving as showrooms for Internet sales and private citizens are given the bill to redevelop acres of commercial property. This berg is giving money away as fast as it can,Redskin training camp etc.,....and still going broke !

[Brian Kerley]

I think it's going to have a hard time getting through the house, which is a good thing by me.

I truly think this is just the states way of over reaching and trying to tax you for something you shouldn't owe. If they wanted to make the taxing correct you should have to pay the tax in the state that you are buying the item from. So if you are in Ohio and you purchase something on the internet in Texas then you would pay Texas sales tax, just like you would if you walked into the store and purchased it from them.

Collecting sales tax from the state you are purchasing the item in doesn't make sense. Except of course to the politicians in that state.

You may want to check your state laws, but almost every state requires you to pay taxes on out-of-state purchases. They are called USE TAXES. For instance, if you go over the state-line and purchased a vehicle and brought it back into the state in which you reside, you are supposed to pay your local taxes on that.

Now, many people don't pay those taxes. If you don't agree with the taxes, take it up with your state. This is a law at the Federal level that is trying to make it easier for the states to get the tax that they already should be receiving, but aren't. There really is nothing wrong with this bill.

Also to add another point....businesses aren't required to pay sales taxes. Sales taxes are levied against the buyer not the seller. Businesses merely collect the tax on behalf of the taxing authority. Therefore, this law is forcing the businesses to collect the tax that you are already required to pay. It's about the only way to go about it since almost everyone is being a tax cheat (myself included) because the only people (with exceptions of course) that pay the use tax are CPAs and tax lawyers who are a little scared that a taxing authority would love to make an example of someone who is not ignorant of the tax laws.

[David C. Roseman]

[snip]
This isn't a zero sum game. This isn't a case where the guy that wants the table saw will buy it locally instead of Grizzly because now the sales tax issue is moot. He may not purchase the table saw at all!
[snip]


Point taken, Phil, but a TS is probably not the best example. I don't know many folks who want that TS but refuse to buy it only because of sales/use tax! :D

Actually, any large piece of machinery that is shipped interstate via truck freight is in somewhat of a different category because it is so much easier to track than, say, small FedEx or UPS deliveries. Jurisdictions with use taxes often have arrangements with the interstate trucking companies to receive manifest info for in-state deliveries. They then follow up, and if use tax has not been declared and paid, will collect it along with a hefty penalty.

David

[David Weaver]

It's hard to look at any one purchase and say "I'd buy that at $999, but not $1069 if I had to pay sales tax", but it might be something that tips the balance some small percent of the time, even if it is literally because someone sets an arbitrary budget, or because a subjective feel about a final price is there.

I think that there is probably a mental block of "why would I give someone $70 of taxes (what it would be for me on that amount of purchase price) for nothing", and it would be easier to collect $1069 from an individual with no taxes, than it is for someone to get over the stumbling block of paying tax and shipping and thinking "gaddd...$220 of this price is just to pay taxes and get the saw to me...throwaway money".

That's how I view it...as soon as you buy something new in power tools, you've already tossed a fair bit of coin in the toilet as a hobbyist, and if taxes and shipping are added, it doesn't take me much to look used.

I literally have never ordered from Grizzly, at least not anything considerable, because the idea of paying across the country freight rates PLUS sales taxes to get something form 4 hours away seems inequitable to me and I just won't do it. In reality, the couple of times I've compared, the combination of those two things has tipped the balance in favor of my local independent saw shop who will deal on price, and in the case that there was something I couldn't fit in my truck, the owner of the saw shop literally put it in his truck as we were there, helped me get it off the truck in my garage and said "thanks for your business" when he left.

[Jim Koepke]

I truly think this is just the states way of over reaching and trying to tax you for something you shouldn't owe.

Most states that collect sales tax already have laws requiring people to pay sales tax on items bought in another state. Many states have laws that allow people from out of state to not pay sales tax on items to be taken out of state.

In my town, the cashiers constantly ask if we are from Oregon. People with Oregon IDs do not pay sales tax. Many people travel across the river because the nearest shopping for them is much farther away in Oregon.

Oregon doesn't have a sales tax. Washington doesn't have an income tax.

As Ben Franklin said, "Two things in life are assured, death and taxes."

Just imagine anytime you drive on a paved road, taxes had to be collected to pay for that road.

Just remember anytime you meet an educated person, taxes helped to pay for their education.

When you see a police officer, fire fighter or military person doing their job, remember they wouldn't be there if there wasn't a way to pay them for their service.

Please spare us the idea that just because of my listing some of the things that government does with taxes that I am a tax lover who thinks we should all be taxed to the point of the other assurance Mr. Franklin identified.

I do not love taxes, I accept their necessity in a civil society.

jtk

[David Weaver]

Michigan makes use tax easy as long as you didn't have any huge purchases. They give you the option of just using a table to estimate it based on your income. I have no problem with that.

PA does, too, and I've paid that amount. It seems short to me, but if they give you the option, I got tired of trying to track actual purchases when a lot of retailers never itemize for you or in some cases even leave a receipt in the box.

[Mike Henderson]

You're thinking about sole proprietorships $1 million is not very much for a business with employees and expenses. The margin on a product is typically 30%, so out of that $1 million, it leaves only $300,000 for employee salaries and other expenses. That constitutes a pretty tiny company.

You're correct. My comment was to address the issue of eBay or Amazon sellers having to collect sales taxes. I doubt if many of them have $1,000,000 or more in gross sales.

Mike

[Brian Elfert]

Sales taxes are generally based on where the buyer is located at. For online purchases your sales tax would be based on the address you gave the seller. I was at an appliance retailer once that was on the state border. They asked if you were picking up the item or having it delivered. If delivered the tax would go to whatever state they delivered to and the rate is different.

The sales tax goes to the state where the buyer is located at so the buyer can complain to their representative if they don't like paying the tax or how it is spent.

[Phil Thien]

It's hard to look at any one purchase and say "I'd buy that at $999, but not $1069 if I had to pay sales tax", but it might be something that tips the balance some small percent of the time, even if it is literally because someone sets an arbitrary budget, or because a subjective feel about a final price is there.

Put it in these terms: It will amount to three to ten percent price inflation, overnight.

So what we can expect to happen is, an increase is sales volume right up to the deadline. Outfits like Grizzly and LV (just using those two because they are topical), etc., will see a nice bump in sales, as customers shift their purchasing to sooner, rather than later, to avoid the tax.

And then overnight, that will all go away. So as large an increase as mail-order houses experienced, they will subsequently endure a decrease larger than any bump they enjoyed.

How long it lasts will depend on other economic factors, and the psyche of consumers. You cannot underestimate the message sent to consumers with a measure like this. A certain percentage will feel like the government wants them to favor local businesses instead of online (so if what they want isn't available locally, they may just go without). Other consumers will feel like the party is over, and may change their discretionary spending habits substantially.

Some mail order vendors will, facing uncertainty, be forced to layoff employees.

Finally, there are a lot of other interesting factors. We may see a spike in energy consumption when people decide that they will drive 20 miles round trip to pickup an item, instead of having it shipped in, because now they are factoring the tax rate into the purchasing decision.

I could go on and on. Lucky for you guys, I won't.

[Brian Elfert]

Total online sales are such a small part of the overall economy that I doubt collecting sales tax on those purchases is going to crater the economy. I've heard estimates that states would collect about $15 billion in sales tax if the level of online sales stayed the same.

Any time there is a large price increase there will be a sales bump followed by a downturn after the price changes. Just the nature of how economics works. When semi tractors faced new pollution regulations in 2007 that would add cost and complexity semi tractor sales went through the roof in 2005 and 2006. Manufacturers increased production and were still completely sold out.

[David Weaver]

You should read the thoughts of the mechanics who work on those new tractors now. One of the forums has a mechanic foreman for one of the large trucking companies on it, and I have yet to see him say anything good about any newer truck. I can't even repeat the things he says about cost of maintenance for them, the hassle, the lost time on the trucks, etc. Just like this tax thing, if there are 15 billion in new taxes I would bet that the decrease in sales will be at least that, if not more, because of the psychological tendency to want to avoid taxes. There's always consequences that are never reported.

Most of the guys who don't put 150k miles a year on a truck (like farmers, etc) all still say "i'm looking for a nice truck made before ____" because the cost of repair is something they can't tolerate, and the chance of having a truck out of commission when you need to keep corn away from a combine is unacceptable.

[Phil Thien]

Total online sales are such a small part of the overall economy that I doubt collecting sales tax on those purchases is going to crater the economy. I've heard estimates that states would collect about $15 billion in sales tax if the level of online sales stayed the same.

Any time there is a large price increase there will be a sales bump followed by a downturn after the price changes. Just the nature of how economics works. When semi tractors faced new pollution regulations in 2007 that would add cost and complexity semi tractor sales went through the roof in 2005 and 2006. Manufacturers increased production and were still completely sold out.

That is actually very hard to say (cratering of the economy).

The best way to think of this new legislation is probably as a repeat of the luxury tax, but this time for middle incomers.

The dollars being spent online are largely discretionary. And just like millionaires don't NEED a new yacht or a new luxury car, most online shoppers don't NEED a new camera, or a new coffee maker.

And unlike last time (luxury tax and millionaires), we're talking a very large percentage of consumers.

And like all matters related to the economy, these are velocity problems, and nothing happens in a vacuum. If, via policy, you make consumers shut their wallets to online sales, don't be too surprised if they also curtail local spending.

I'm not saying it will crater the economy. But I'm also not willing to eliminate that as a possibility.

[Steve Meliza]

I live in a state without sales tax (Oregon) so when I make a purchase online there is no tax advantage to be had, yet I still often buy online rather than in a store because the prices and selection are superior. For those of you in states with sales tax you too will find that even if you have to pay a sales tax for online purchases it'll still beat the local stores most of the time.

Our local businesses don't want an internet tax collection because it means increased costs for them with zero benefit to our state. We non-business owners could care less because no one has to collect sale tax on our purchases. What would make this all so much simpler is if ya'll would switch in a state income tax system.

[Brian Kerley]

I live in a state without sales tax (Oregon) so when I make a purchase online there is no tax advantage to be had, yet I still often buy online rather than in a store because the prices and selection are superior. For those of you in states with sales tax you too will find that even if you have to pay a sales tax for online purchases it'll still beat the local stores most of the time.

Our local businesses don't want an internet tax collection because it means increased costs for them with zero benefit to our state. We non-business owners could care less because no one has to collect sale tax on our purchases. What would make this all so much simpler is if ya'll would switch in a state income tax system.


I will say this....

If I purchase local, not only do I pay my state tax, but we have municipal taxes as well. So buying online with sales tax is still cheaper. Not to mention the price already is cheaper than the stores.

Amazon Prime is like crack. I have something to my door in 1 day oftentimes because so much stuff ships out of the local warehouse. And that's really what Amazon's end-game is. They want warehouses everywhere and they can't get sales tax exemptions any more. So they want the tax so it makes their job easier and they no longer have to worry about negotiations or being sued. More warehouses in more locations will mean either next day delivery for free or same-day for a few bucks.

[Brian Elfert]

Our local businesses don't want an internet tax collection because it means increased costs for them with zero benefit to our state. We non-business owners could care less because no one has to collect sale tax on our purchases. What would make this all so much simpler is if ya'll would switch in a state income tax system.

We already have both a sales tax and an income here in Minnesota. A number of states have both.

[ray hampton]

We already have both a sales tax and an income here in Minnesota. A number of states have both.

will you explain the EXCISE tax

[Orion Henderson]

Great discussion on this. I wrote about this quite extensively not too long ago on my blog. If you're interested I'd love to get your thoughts:

[Jim Becker]

Most states that collect sales tax already have laws requiring people to pay sales tax on items bought in another state.

This is absolutely true...and that means this whole thing is not a "new" tax. It's merely a requirement that it be collected by the point of sale rather than "trusting" the consumer to send it in themselves for out-of-state purchases. I don't particularly "enjoy" paying sales taxes, but they are not going away. Since the largest part of my online purchasing is funneled through Amazon Prime, I'm already paying PA sales tax on all of those purchases since Amazon has distribution facilities in PA. So the material effect to "me" for this legislation is minimal, but not to the revenue stream of the state I live in. That revenue funds the things that folks ask the state to provide.

[Brian Elfert]

One would assume that GoDaddy and all the other sites out there that offer ecommerce websites will offer the ability to track sales tax due probably at no additional charge. They already have to help the merchant collect sales tax in their home state if the state has sales tax,. I'm sure there will be companies that will help small businesses pay the taxes due to each state so a small business doesn't have to make 50 or more sales tax payments each month or quarter.

I don't know about other states, but the state of Minnesota collects all sales taxes, even those for cities or counties. The state then pays the taxes due to each county or city. There may be 9,000+ different sales tax rates in the USA, but that doesn't mean 9,000+ places to remit sales tax to.

[ray hampton]

One would assume that GoDaddy and all the other sites out there that offer ecommerce websites will offer the ability to track sales tax due probably at no additional charge. They already have to help the merchant collect sales tax in their home state if the state has sales tax,. I'm sure there will be companies that will help small businesses pay the taxes due to each state so a small business doesn't have to make 50 or more sales tax payments each month or quarter.

I don't know about other states, but the state of Minnesota collects all sales taxes, even those for cities or counties. The state then pays the taxes due to each county or city. There may be 9,000+ different sales tax rates in the USA, but that doesn't mean 9,000+ places to remit sales tax to.

if all of your purchases are 50 $ or less each and maybe two a year , will the states worry about the tax that you forget to pay

[Leo Graywacz]

Yes, they want their share of the pie no matter how small.

[Brian Elfert]

if all of your purchases are 50 $ or less each and maybe two a year , will the states worry about the tax that you forget to pay

The state probably wouldn't audit you for $6 or $7 in tax you didn't pay. On the other hand, if half a million people each make two $50 purchases without paying tax that is $3 million or more to the state. Not a whole lot when compared to states with $15 or $20 billion budgets, but every bit counts these days.

[Jerome Stanek]

in Ohio they are looking into dog breeders either in state or on line. One breeder I know last year sold $50,000 worth of puppies and didn't have a dog license or a venders license. She didn't pay income tax on it either. she went to court over a refund dispute and lost and the state got involved. I glad that she was investigated. She made some people very unhappy with her rambling about how they were wrong to take her to court and win.