Taxes for online shopping gaining support in Congress and Amazon

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm not charged for eBooks from B&N and there are stores here.

Not every US state taxes digital downloads.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

It's just the way it was presented that makes it sound that way.

Properties with wonderful vistas (wonderful by the standards of the average home buyer) have a higher property value compared with houses next door to a brand new trash dump -- even if the houses are identical and in the same town. When houses are re-appraised for property tax purposes, location is quite properly considered. That all the anti-tax-activist phrase "view tax" means.

BULLSH*T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The view tax is an arbitrarily decided tax that has no concrete guidelines and is pretty much decided by a random government/town/state worker who has been given that job.

I'm in the land surveying business and I've seen how contractors now have to bend like a pretzel to keep the land as close as possible to the way they found it before building a house on it, or the person who buys it has to pay an 'increased' view tax.

It is completely subjective and if the person who decides how much your "view" is worth is having a bad day, your assessment is going to be higher.

Concerning "online taxes", it is the responsibility of the government to collect the tax. I am NOT going to bend over backwards so the govt can "have its way" with me.

Thank God I live in New Hampshire.....

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Yes. Because there is a single national rate for sales tax, this is not an issue for retailers.
In the US, there can be multiple levels of sales tax (state, municipal), each of which can be different.

Ah ok thanks for the info

[QuantumIguana]

.....

[fjtorres]

Last time I looked (at the launch of the Price Fix Scam, as a matter of fact) there were 3500 different Tax regimes in the US. And not only are the rates different, the reporting and payment requirements also vary as to who gets the money, when, and how it is documented. Everybody wants it done *their* way.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm not charged for eBooks from B&N and there are stores here.

But then, if I was to start getting charged sales tax, I think my business with Kobo might just increase.

Enjoy while it last, lol ... here in Texas, I wasn't,until a week ago.

I don't like paying online taxes. Reasong being, my money won't help anyone. I don't believe In politicians. And the harder I work, the more taxes I pay. But let's not talk about politicians and politics.

Do not know anyone here in Texas that reported taxes for Amazon online shopping prior July 2012. As a matter of fact, had no idea we have to.

Will I continue shopping ? Yes. Do I like it? No.

[Apache]

I loved it when the State of Georgia revamped the way you pay sales tax and withholding taxes. Not only did you have to go through many more steps to submit forms and payments, it was very unintuitive.
Apache

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Amazon have offered same-day delivery in the UK for quite some time for people who live in the vicinity of London. I've not heard anyone say that it's had an adverse impact on other businesses.

Britain is slightly larger than Florida. Here in Canada, my girlfriend's parents live in the next city west of us, yet driving for a visit is about equivalent to driving from London to Edinburgh and takes about six hours each way.

Next-day delivery is no big deal in Britain, but it is in North America. One of the reasons I buy more from local stores here than I did in Britain is that I'll typically have to wait a week or more for anything I order online to turn up.

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

Calculating the tax is a minor issue compared to the paperwork to pay the taxes to every state across America. That's something Amazon can easily afford to do, but a major impediment to Joe Entrepreneur running an online business out of his basement.

Governments love this because they screw more money out of taxpayers, and Amazon loves it because it screws their competitors more than it screws them. Just another way that Big Government eliminates Big Business' competitors in their symbiotic relationship.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

Governments love this because they screw more money out of taxpayers, and Amazon loves it because it screws their competitors more than it screws them. Just another way that Big Government eliminates Big Business' competitors in their symbiotic relationship.

And taxpayers hate it because it prevents them from cheating on their taxes. And local retailers like it because it means that large out of state companies have to collect the same taxes they do.

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

And local retailers like it because it means that large out of state companies have to collect the same taxes they do.

You presumably missed the part where Amazon is now planning to open shipping centres all over America so they can provide next-day delivery?

If they do that, many of the 'local retailers' who whined about Amazon not having to collect tax will be looking for another line of work.

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Basing a tax on a home's fair market value is the most rational, most fair, and most efficient way of taxing it. As mentioned upthread, it would be ludicrous to tax two otherwise identical homes the same if one has an ocean view and a FMV of $750,000 and the other is in a bad neighborhood, has a view of the dump, and a FMV of $150,000.

It's not like the home in the better neighborhood has a higher cost for the state/locality to provide services. Given that, why is it fair to tax it higher?

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

You presumably missed the part where Amazon is now planning to open shipping centres all over America so they can provide next-day delivery?

If they do that, many of the 'local retailers' who whined about Amazon not having to collect tax will be looking for another line of work.

Very possibly. But it has been the "Hometown local retailer foundation" (or whatever it was called) that has been most vehemently pushing for Amazon to collect sales taxes.)

Originally Posted by ATimson

It's not like the home in the better neighborhood has a higher cost for the state/locality to provide services. Given that, why is it fair to tax it higher?

For the same reason we tax people with higher incomes more than people with lower incomes, and that there's more sales tax collected on a $100,000 car than on a $15,000 car: they are better able to afford it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Very possibly. But it has been the "Hometown local retailer foundation" (or whatever it was called) that has been most vehemently pushing for Amazon to collect sales taxes.)

Yup.
Funded almost exclusively by the likes of WalMart, Target, Sears, and Best Buy.
(They wouldn't get as much sympathy if they called themselves "Big Retailers against online shoppers".)
Classic Astro-turf move.

BTW, it's "Alliance for Main Street Fairness" and yes, it is funded by the big guys, not hordes of cuddly indies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allianc...s#Organization

[cjr72]

Senator Jim DeMint on why he opposes this legislation.