Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
Your state has a sales tax, but are not requiring Amazon to honor it? Is that what you are saying?
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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".
