Amazon and the sales tax question

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Apache

It would be an incredible burden for small business's to have to pay sales tax in multiple states.

Correct.
And not just states; counties and cities have different sales tax regimes in place. There are over eleven thousand different sales tax regimes that need to be tracked individually.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...8153246AAg3nlp

The need to protect internet e-commerce startups is not a smokescreen but a real concern.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Government is "being deprived of"?!
It's not as if they're *entitled* to it.
And it most certainly is not *their* money.

If people are evading taxes which they're legally obliged to pay, then they certainly are entitled to it. Tax evasion is stealing from everybody.

[RDaneel54]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I pay them. The first year Ohio put the law into place, there was a tongue-in-cheek editorial in our local paper about how on 2% of Ohioans are shopping on that new-fangled internet thing. So I know I'm in the minority when it comes to admitting it.

I'm another Ohioan who pays it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Tax evasion is stealing from everybody.

"Stealing" from the government is *not* "stealing* from everybody, just from idiot politicians and their corrupt pilot fish entourage.

Eleven thousand jurisdictions means 11,000 sets of idiot politicians and bureaucrats. Most of which seem to forget they shouldn't pass laws or regulations they can't enforce. Like use taxes, which are de-facto optional.

Americans are a fractious, bickering lot, no friends of government, collectivism, or taxes. They are also the most (privately) charitable society on the planet.

Skipping out on use taxes is just another way of voting your wallet. When I lived in Ohio, I paid. Elsewhere I don't. For good and valid reasons in both cases.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

"Stealing" from the government is *not* "stealing* from everybody, just from idiot politicians and their corrupt pilot fish entourage.

Remember that the next time there's no money to build a new school, or a new hospital.

[RDaneel54]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Remember that the next time there's no money to build a new school, or a new hospital.

Another benefit to paying use taxes in Ohio. Ohio partially funds local libraries, which is one of the reasons we have several of the larger e-book libraries in this country.

Taxes are a constant discussion in the U.S. because we tax different things in different ways in each state. Some states tax how much personal property you have, or have high car license fees/taxes for schools. In some places in Ohio we have state income tax, local income tax, real estate tax, school district income tax, state sales tax, local sales tax, use tax. Progressive and regressive taxes affecting every income level.

If we were to have a VAT it would be added to our current tax load, not replace it.

Many of our hospitals were built using private funds and are now corporately funded. Many were built by religious or other charitable organizations.

[pidgeon92]

It's an interesting debate. I just bought a new winter coat for $425. Had I purchased it from a local retailer, I would have paid ~$40 in state/local taxes. Instead, I ordered it online. However, it's not like I'm taking that $40 and stuffing it in my mattress where it will never be useful again. I will spend it on something else. It's still propping up the economy, but it's not propping it up via spending by the local government.

[Casey57]

I figure it out from my yearly purchases and pay accordingly. We received a "reminder" from the state this year about it also. Beginning on September 1 of this year, Amazon is now charging tax in PA.

[unkilbeeg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Remember that the next time there's no money to build a new school, or a new hospital.

'I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.'
--Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

[Dragoro]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Remember that the next time there's no money to build a new school, or a new hospital.

Ill blame that on the public unions.

[derangedhermit]

The total end price, including tax, affects buyer choices. Amazon can charge 5%-10% higher prices where the buyer isn't going to pay sales tax while keeping the same sales volume. That 5%-10% of sales drops straight to Amazon's bottom line, and is a huge number, a huge competitive advantage. If I were Amazon, I'd try very hard to keep that advantage too.

The OP puts the question by tying together legality and ethics. To me they are not synonymous. I find it helpful to treat the two separately.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Apache

It would be an incredible burden for small business's to have to pay sales tax in multiple states. You have to have a sales tax number for each state. Some states require you to report which counties the sales tax is collected in. The paper work ca be time consuming to fill out properly. Some state's websites are more intuitive and others are a bear to use. Some you can submit the forms and pay online. Others you have to mail in the paperwork and check. Some states let you keep a very small percentage of the money collected to defer the paperwork costs.
Apache

As a former portable bookstore owner, with 3 States of Tax Numbers (and a Internet presence).

All 3 of those states went down to the City Level in some cases.
Many cities had differing rates. (but you needed to report sales by city anyway, so it was just record keeping)
One state had differing what is taxable (or at a different rate) by city lists.

Just keeping track of the current rates (effective dates and taxing rules) was an effort.


Then there was the reporting Forms
Nothing uniform about those

Oh! Let us add customers into the mix. Over 25% of my mail order customers could NOT even tell me what county/parish they lived in (needed so I could look up the correct rate as their state did not provide a city-county breakdown list).

It is long past time we get a simplified system for Internet Only (no physical in that state presence) sales tax:
1 Consolidated form for reporting. (Reporting Frequency will be based upon the Forms 'Total Due' line)

1 payment Check to 1 National reporting center.

1 Rate ONLY for a State (and all Internet sales are exempted from Local reporting)

1 What is taxable List

Only then will it be easy for business to comply.

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If every one of those fails to pay $10 a year in sales tax, that's an income of $3bn that the government is being deprived of. That's serious money!

Three billion dollars barely makes you rich as an individual these days. The Federal government borrows about that much every single day.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's what? 300 million or so people in the US? If every one of those fails to pay $10 a year in sales tax, that's an income of $3bn that the government is being deprived of. That's serious money!

First, it's governments, plural, not government; each jurisdiction is separate. In the US there is a wide variety of tax schemes based on each state and in many cases each county, or even each taxing jurisdiction. Second, we don't consider the government to be entitled to our money. By law, we pay taxes that are used for the common good, but that is money we pay to ourselves for our own benefit. We simply use a bureaucracy to manage the appropriation and usage of our money.

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by Casey57

I figure it out from my yearly purchases and pay accordingly. We received a "reminder" from the state this year about it also. Beginning on September 1 of this year, Amazon is now charging tax in PA.

The states need to work with Amazon so Amazon can collect tax at the source. I have no problem paying sales tax on what I buy, but it needs to be collected at the source like every other sales tax.

I have paid use tax before. We needed to show proof of payment before my husband could register his plane. No problem. But if there is no licensing requirement, you need to collect it at the source.