Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
You only have to pay state tax if the the state has a state tax and if the online shop you are getting the item(s) from has a presence in the state you are in. Sony has SonyStyle shops here, so yes online you do have to pay state tax.
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No, that is not true! Online merchants use the nexus thing to avoid charging tax so make their products more competitive. However you still have to pay sales tax on any product purchased online regardless. You just have to do it at tax time. That is tax law. (NY State put even a special line on their return for several years asking you to declare those sales taxes)
Since most people do not pay said tax, the states are trying to force legislation to make all online merchants charge tax indifferent of nexus.
Amazon, Ebay and others are resisting this mightily under pretexts of myriad of local taxes, but sooner or later they will lose since the pressure is too high (at the national governors meeting this year, collection of sales tax on internet purchases was a topic as high priority as illegal immigration). Also Wal Mart, B&N and many others who already charge tax due to nexus, and various trade organizations like US booksellers organization, are also pressuring Amazon, Ebay and its counterparts to "level the playing field"
In fact you have to pay sales tax on any private transaction too, so for example in used car transactions, frequently buyers arrange with sellers to understate the value of the transaction by a lot and split the difference...