Taxes for online shopping gaining support in Congress and Amazon

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Are the plates associated with the owner in the US? When a car is sold, its new owner puts new plates on it?

That's the way how it works in Canada.

A vehicle has "VIN" (vehicle id number) that cop can check by simply looking through the windshield. The VIN must match (the same number) on engine, and it is illegal to mess with it.

A license plate can be personalized ("MobRead" is probably taken ).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I think in the US you get new number plates every year, they take the place of the UK Tax disc. (Not necessarily a new number, but new plates)

Interesting. Thank you. That's an awful lot of metal to throw away every year!

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I think in the US you get new number plates every year, they take the place of the UK Tax disc. (Not necessarily a new number, but new plates)

Stickers, here. And I believe in US, too.

[Apache]

A simplification of the tax laws, of the U.S., would be wonderful for most people. Unfortunately, that does not include Accountants and Lawyers and is why they tend to oppose simplified rules.
Apache

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I have no problem with a sales tax for online purchases.

Neither do I. The only taxes I have a real hate for are property taxes, especially if they are really high. That is just renting from the government. You don't own it. You might as well just rent. Thankfully, I live in a low-property-tax, high-sales-tax state. The sales tax is just under 10% but I don't mind.

[John F]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I think in the US you get new number plates every year, they take the place of the UK Tax disc. (Not necessarily a new number, but new plates)

I don't think that is true for the vast majority of states in the U.S. It isn't true for my state.

Hellmark described the process my state uses.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Interesting. Thank you. That's an awful lot of metal to throw away every year!

In Washington, license plates are associated with the vehicle; not the owner. Every year, vehicle registrations must be renewed. We just get a new "year" sticker that goes on the rear plate. New plates are issued every 7 years, because the reflective coating wears out.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

I think in the US you get new number plates every year, they take the place of the UK Tax disc. (Not necessarily a new number, but new plates)

No. You keep the same metal plates on the car. The only time that the plates are ever replaced is if you sell the car, or if the state redesigns the plates (For Missouri, the current plates came out in '09, '98 was the previous design, and 1980 was the time before that)

Originally Posted by HarryT

Interesting. Thank you. That's an awful lot of metal to throw away every year!

It isn't done that way.

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

Neither do I. The only taxes I have a real hate for are property taxes, especially if they are really high. That is just renting from the government. You don't own it. You might as well just rent. Thankfully, I live in a low-property-tax, high-sales-tax state. The sales tax is just under 10% but I don't mind.

Property tax is nuts. My old house (the one that was taken eminent domain), they claimed was worth $80k, but taxes kept creeping up, to where I was paying $5k a year in taxes before they decided to build a road through it (a dead end road, roughly a quarter mile long leading to no where, that ultimately took them 5 years to build, but that's a whole other story). Here in Missouri, they're allowed to raise the property tax by 18% a year, without doing a full assessment. Some areas take advantage of that, and so it ends up being raised the full 18% every year. I think my parents are paying $5500 a year right now, and their income last year was a little under $30,000 (before income tax was taken out).

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

However, part of the problem is that some are arguing that the point of sale happens not at the warehouse that things ship from, or some other physical entity of the business, but rather from where the customer is.

Amazon charges me sales tax (including my city sales tax) when I have something shipped to my home address, however, when I ship something direct to another locality, Amazon charges me the sales tax of that locality.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Amazon charges me sales tax (including my city sales tax) when I have something shipped to my home address, however, when I ship something direct to another locality, Amazon charges me the sales tax of that locality.

I've noticed that also.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

In Washington, license plates are associated with the vehicle; not the owner. Every year, vehicle registrations must be renewed. We just get a new "year" sticker that goes on the rear plate. New plates are issued every 7 years, because the reflective coating wears out.

Thanks for explaining it.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you explain what you mean by "get your plates"? In the UK, the number plate (which I believe you call "license plate") is associated with the car, not its owner. Are the plates associated with the owner in the US? When a car is sold, its new owner puts new plates on it?

In Georgia the plates used to stay with the car and the purchaser was supposed to register them after the sale. Some did not. I sold a 1986 Honda to a local preacher who bought it for his son. Two years later I get a letter from the city of Jacksonville Florida for over $200.00 worth of unpaid parking fines. The car was still showing as being registered to me. I called my ex father in law, he was the police Chief at the time, and explained it to him. He sent the City of Jacksonville a copy of my proof of sale and they sent the preacher the bill.
Now the tags stay with the seller and the new owner purchases a new tag. If the seller buys another vehicle, that year, he can register the new vehicle using the original plate.
Georgia does not issue a new tag every year. I do not remember whether it is every 5 or 10 years, that they issue new tags. Instead you get a sticker for the new year that is placed in the bottom right corner of the tag.
Apache

[Fluribus]

Perhaps the extra expense and difficulty of collecting tax for every jurisdiction is a burden that will be a greater hindrance for upstart competitors than for the mighty Amazon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

Perhaps the extra expense and difficulty of collecting tax for every jurisdiction is a burden that will be a greater hindrance for upstart competitors than for the mighty Amazon.

Sounds as if there might be a real opportunity for someone to sell access to a web service which gets passed a location and some kind of product category identifier, and returns a tax percentage. Charge a fraction of a cent for each access, and there might be real money in it.

[Apache]

If you live in Connecticut you are charged a view tax. If you have a nice view you pay more. One man sued when his neighbor cut down trees. The man suddenly had a much better view and his view tax went up. He lost the case.
Apache