Quote:
Originally Posted by doreenjoy
Considering my CPA told me the other day that there is already a U.S. Supreme Court decision that declares these state laws unconstitutional, I think Amazon can make a pretty good case that the California law needs to be struck down.
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They are making this case, but not in CA, in NY.
They picked their battleground to be NY to fight this.
The states know it will likely get struck down. They are doing it to make a point and to try to force Congress to take action. Congress repeatedly fails to pass it, because..well..half the internet goes up in arms pushing everyone to write their congress critters each time it comes up =) So they table it.
The court case left it up to Congress to develop a way to enforce cross state collection of sales/use taxes.
The states have gotten impatient, since this court case was originally decided back in the 70s when mail order was becoming real big. The late 90's and since have seen the internet retail business explode at such a huge rate, that the issue is really front and center for every state now, except those rare ones that don't have a use tax of any kind.
Frankly, I'm of the opinion that Amazon should file suit against all the states that have done this, join the cases in the 4th District, and start to collect and place into trust the use taxes that would be collected, to establish an undeniable precedent on the matter. Doing so would also likely cause all the other states contemplating this to table it while the case works its way through the court system.
To those who are arguing that it is right that the tax be paid, you don't get what is going on. The states always HAVE a legal right to collect the tax, but they must collect it from their residents. What they are trying to do now is take entities that are not under their legal jurisdiction and give them a legal obligation to collect the tax.
THAT is why this is being fought. It would be akin to a Russian court telling me I have to collect Russian imposed use taxes from Russians who buy one of my products online. They have no jurisdiction over me, and no right to make that demand.
Now the reason the residents of the states don't remit the tax voluntarily...well hell, most of us feel, rightly so IMO, that California is taxing us way too much as it is. The tax and fee regimes in this state are the worst in the nation. And the idiot voters in California passed a proposition that allowed them to pass budgets with a less than 2/3rds vote, thus making it easier for them to pass more idiotic tax and fee regimes.
A county supervisor in southern California suggested this week that 13 counties from central to southern California start an effort to create a new state and succede from California. She has my vote. Sadly, the movement would require a statewide vote, and the northern counties would never agree to it. Why are these counties upset? The state didnt want to cut spending, and were too scared of what voters would do to them if they raised taxes more, and were upset over the fact they weren't getting a paycheck because a new law docks their pay if they cant pass a balanced a budget. So the state decided instead to SEIZE from county/city governments the portion of vehicle registration and other fees that has legislatively belonged to the local governments.
If it wasn't for family, I'd have left California long ago. And even that's getting to be not enough of a reason to keep me here. Nevada and Oregon are both looking might good right now. More business friendly, more libertarian, and lower cost of living.