Quote:
Originally Posted by joenunya
How is a company like Amazon to know what amount of tax to collect?
|
Amazon is one of the top database services in the world, and they already collect sales taxes in multiple jurisdictions. It would take their db guys a (sleepless) week to implement a system for all 50 states.
Even for small businesses, it's not necessarily that bad. Hosted ecommerce services like Vae already offer sales tax services for their clients, you can buy national sales tax databases for $50/month.... It is really not that hard.
The real issue is that they don't want to lose a competitive advantage.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by joenunya
States have an obligation to make it EASY to pay our taxes...
|
No they don't. It is in their best interests to do so, but they could make a completely unworkable tax code if they really wanted.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by joenunya
I am in the process of moving out of CA because of the mess it is due to all manner of reasons not the least of which is I am not going to pay taxes for the state to go bankrupt in the next 2-3 years....
|
CA is "going broke" because its citizens strangled its ability to raise property taxes in the 70s with Prop 13. As a result, CA is more heavily dependent on income and sales taxes, i.e. the types of revenue that drop during a recession. (Property taxes are generally much more stable, predictable and consistent.)
So if you're up in arms over the State going broke, just remember that it's because you and everyone else in CA got a huge break in property taxes for the last 35 years.
Meanwhile,
every state is facing lost revenues due to the recession and has a complex tax code. You'll get a little bit more protection by incorporating in Delaware, but ultimately there are only so many places you can run, nor does everyone want to up and leave because taxes got a little higher.