OT Amazon to begin charging state sales tax

Not in Oregon!

Paul

That initiative is well under way nationwide.

The states have quietly joined together to create this entity (below), whose purpose is to create a system to collect sales tax for your state on all your purchases, no matter whose goods you buy:

Here's current legislation: It's coming, folks.

-- Cheers, James Arthur

Not in NH either!

Interesting thread.

Delaware has no sales tax, although there is a hidden

Hmm, here in 'tax-happy' New York State there is a line on the state tax return where you are 'required' to add in all the state tax that you did not pay on 'out of state' purchases.

George H.

PA has had the same self reporting requirement for as long as I can remember.

PA sends revenue agents into DE and MD to stake out liquor stores for PA buyers returning to PA. While back, I recall liquor store owners in MD chasing them out of their parking lots.

I believe most states have this in their income tax forms. It doesn't cost anything to put it there but likely gets just about as much in return. Have you ever put anything there?

NY did that 20-30 years ago. They'd send agents to the malls in NJ, about this time of year, and send "kindly" reminders to everyone with NY plates parking there. I doubt that it generated any revenue but it did generate a lot of bad press (can you say Scrooge?).

The "Staties" should escort them to the border with a suggestion that they not return.

In MI, one is required to report out-of-state purchases in excess of $1000 (per item). Purchases for lesser amounts may either be itemized if one has the receipts or else assessed automatically on the basis of the taxable income (I *think* that's the basis). But one is supposed to pay only the difference between the sales tax actually paid elsewhere (if any) and the MI tax. So we don't pay MI "use tax" on the items that we bought in IL where the tax rate is 8.xx (varies from county to county).

Perce

These states are missing an opportunity to charge double sales tax. What *were* they thinking?

John

rote:

Yup, I always put down a little something ~$10-20. All internet purchases, but less in recent years since I've just been checking the box on the order form to have the vendor pay my sales tax. (But remember I'm a liberal weenie, I also pay ~$100 a year extra to get all my electricity from the local wind farm.)

George H.

Years ago, the US Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to collect sales tax on out of state sales. I wonder what has changed?

Sales tax is complicated in that different places (states, counties, cities, etc.) have different rates and different definitions of what can be taxed. I know in Ohio, there is a use tax, identical to the sales tax, that people have to pay themselves when they buy something out of state, but because of complexity and ignorance, I think few people pay it. The states lose a ton of revenue because they can't effectively collect the sales or use tax on out of state purchases. It would certainly be fairer to all to have the same tax for in-state and out of state purchases.

I guess you make perfect sense. ...to someone.

SCotUS had something to say about that. They also tried taxing retirement income in the state where the income was earned. SCotUS took a dim view on that one, too.

The 'Use tax' was first used for businesses to pay taxes on items they used for their operation, in place of sales tax. I used to collect sales tax, and pay use tax for my electronics business.

On 11/23/2011 12:11 PM, Notat Home wrote: ifference...

What has changed is your understanding of sales tax, the law, and the ruling by the courts.

On 11/23/2011 12:11 PM, Notat Home wrote: ifference...

The Supreme Court did NOT rule it unconstitutional for states to collect sales taxes on sales made from out-of-state vendors. What the Court did (Quill v. North Dakota, 1992) was to prevent states from collecting from the

*vendor*. They can still collect from the buyer -- or they can try, which doesn't work very well.

And WTF is that supposed to mean?

Please grow up at least enough to post coherently.

And everyone in your world is so eager to pay taxes, they do not even have to be told... At least in my state, the state never tells anyone that they are supposed to pay a "usage" tax on out-of-state purchases. I seem to recall someone working for the state telling me that the state has a usage tax but that nobody pays those taxes.

Another reason for not sampling a grape at the supermarket is because others might be putting their grubby hands all over the grapes too.