[Merischino]

Originally Posted by cHex

This is a persistent myth. If one's jurisdiction levies a sales tax, that tax is owed on anything one may purchase from Amazon. And if that Amazon falls under that jurisdiction's power, then Amazon is also required to withhold those taxes at the time of purchase.

People think just because a country or American state doesn't have any power over Amazon, residents of that country or state are not required to pay required sales taxes. That's not true. They are still required to pay the taxes.

If we don't want foreign countries or states forcing us to be their agents when we do business with their residents, we can hardly pressure Amazon to.

You are wrong. Currently, Companies like Amazon, wine Vineyards or more broadly, alcohol distributors, etc are required by law to collect sales taxes in any jurisdiction in which they physically operate. States where they have no physical presence have no jurisdiction over them and also have no jurisdiction over customers who choose to purchase from out-of-state vendors, whatever their business model.

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I get charged a sales tax too by Amazon. Unless it is an excuse to pocket more money, seems to me they have accepted that they need to pay sales taxes to the states of their customers.

There is nothing whatsoever to do with a company's preferences. It has everything to do with what they are legally required to do. If you live in a state where Amazon operates a business location (sales-oriented or not), you will have to pay tax for your purchase.

Originally Posted by cHex

Amazon doesn't ever pay the sales tax--the buyers do. Some states have jurisdiction over Amazon (either because of a physical presence there or by negotiation or court order) and are able to require Amazon to collect that tax from the buyers for them at the time of sale, rather than waiting for the buyers to pay it when they file their tax returns.

True about all businesses which are required by law to levy taxes at time of purchase. I have never heard about negotiation or court order applying, but that is probably just my knowledge base lacking. I'm just not sure how a court order would have legal power over how taxes get applied or levied.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Strictly speaking, states can't charge sales tax on out-of-state purchases; they can and do charge a *use tax* on the consumers, who are supposed to pay it when filing their income taxes. Once a company has a physical "presence" in the state, then the state can require them to collect an actual sales tax on its residents.

It is a subtle distinction but one big enough to drive through literally tons of merchandise. Entrenched powers in most states have tried to force out-of-state vendors to collect state taxes but it's pretty solidly established at the federal level that they can't. There has long been an effort to establish a nationwide sales tax on internet sales which would be uniform and relatively cheap to implement and Amazon has stated they would be happy to comply with that one.
If it ever gets passed.
Nobody is holding their breaths, though.
"National sales tax" is just a bit *less* popular than "Health care death panels".

I'm curious to know how exactly a state would have either the knowledge of what the customer/state resident is using let alone the ability to estimate revenue based on a use tax applied to an internet (or out of state) vendor. Use taxes as far as I know are generally applied to things that are already being regulated in another way, eg something which gets licensed by the state could also accrue a use tax even if purchased out of state. something which does not get licensed (a book, a pair of pants, a widescreen tv) they would have purview over exactly how?

On another note, not related to any one person's post, when I lived in the NY/NJ/CT metropolitan area, NY City vendors were constantly peppering the airwaves with their low prices and the fact that out-of-state or even up-state folk who wanted to purchase their wares could benefit from a tourist trip by adding on savings of not having to pay any sales tax on their purchases from the trip. It was a BIG, repetitive major marketing endeavor which must have been successful because it was as ubiquitous as used car commercials. At a later time, iirc, the no-sales-tax became a promotional rather than full-time thing. Where the city would tax people most but not all of the time, having sales-tax vacations (my word) where for that weekend only, people from the greater area would want to come in to take advantage of the no tax.

Not sure how welcome/well-received those advertisements would have been from a non-NY state perspective, or viable even, if the reductions in bottom-of-the-bill purchase prices would have been if everyone were expected legally to go home and calculate the tax they would have paid and then send a separate check for the tax to their home state.