OT Amazon to begin charging state sales tax

it seem ok enough that amazon have the unfair advantage, of paying no saletax, over local shops just because they sell stuff over the internet and not over the counter

-Lasse

But the tax that Michigan, for example, expects people to pay on out-of-state purchases is not a "Sales Tax" but a "Use Tax," and I assume that there is a Michigan law that establishes such a tax.

Perce

Absolutely. But collecting that tax is Michigan's problem, not Amazons when Amazon doesn't have a presence in Michigan.

True enough, but the point being that there is no way to compel ME, or a ME entity (corporation), to collect a tax for MI. MI *can* (attempt to) collect the tax from the MI resident. However, that isn't working out so well.

Here's another one that may be worse.

My business was audited by the state comptroller's office. The on-site auditor wanted to see invoices we had generated for our out-of-state sales. I declined to provide them.

Glad I did.

My tax attorney told me auditors from other states also work in my town and there's a background communications link between them. Had my state auditor discovered an invoice to, say, a client in Missouri, she would have snitched out that fact to the local Missouri auditor. That Missouri auditor, in turn, would pass on the information to the Missouri comptroller's office. A herd of people with green eye-shades and sleeve garters would then descend on my client, demanding to know why he didn't pay the sales tax on an out-of-state purchase.

In California now, the law has changed. If I sell a unit to a customer out of state, but SHIP it from California, I MUST charge California sales taxes on the unit. We double checked on that!!!

Charlie

In addition to complexity and ignorance, there's at least one more reason: Simple refusal.

Several years ago, Dallas County, Texas, quit sending out ad valorem tax notices on automobiles registered in the county. There was such widespread refusal to pay the tax, that it cost the county more to send out the tax notices than they collected.

Yep. Quill had no footprint in North Dakota ("nexus"). The state DID try to make their case with the following argument:

1. Quill ships copy paper into the state.
2. Some (all?) of this paper ends up in landfills within the state, therefore,
3. Quill has a responsibility to see to it North Dakota is recompensed for this expense.

You can't make this stuff up.

begin?

They all ready do charge tax (NYS tax for me)

I rarely order from them now.

Cheers

On Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:11:12 -0600, "HeyBub" wrote: .

All the car dealers would move their vehicles to a neighboring county on Dec 31 and bring them back on Jan 1. Taxable basis was if the car was in Dallas county at 12:01 AM on Jan 1.

After listening to a little bit of the Senate discussion... Maybe what has changed is the technology for Amazon and others (over a certain size) to charge the tax and have the tax instantly credited to the appropriate state. In that way, Amazon will not be technically collecting the tax because it won't actually receive the tax, it might not see any benefit like cash flow or whatever.

Yup.

It seems unfair that a local store can supply the merchandise immediately when one has to wait three days for that same merchandise to arrive from Amazon. To be "fair," the local brick and mortar store should be required to hold the merchandise, much like a lay-away, for at least a couple of days to ensure "fairness."

Of course if you needed another box of nails, a replacement for a broken drill-bit, or a water pump for your car, you might be slightly inconvenienced by waiting a few days, but at least the universe would take a big step toward fairness.

It's for the children.

well then in exchange for the waiting time you should have to pay sale tax then it would be fair

that is if you are lucky enough that there's still a shop to go to and it hasn't been closed because it didn't sell anything because every one bought stuff online to avoid the sales tax

-Lasse

I only shopped mail order or online for what I couldn't get locally, or it was so damned overpriced that I wouldn't. I needed a 10' HDMI cable recently. $3.49 delivered, or $49.99 local, and both were made in China.

So you managed to avoid paying about $3.00 in sales tax..

And to save gas, time, and now that its holiday season..FRUSTRATION, ANXIETY, and RAGE. I do not go anywhere near a mall or big-box electronics joint this time of year. Hate it.

The 'Internets' and all the wonderful online stores have changed the way I shop. Now when I need something I can research the hell out of different TV's for example. Old way is going to a B&M store and selecting from a very limited inventory. I can spec. a TV, find the best price, and have it delivered to my door for free. Does Best Buy or Wally-World deliver for free? Nope. I don't need to transport that huge box and make sure the load is tied down. I don't have to handle the cumbersome and heavy box until it arrives at my front doorstep.

At the end of the day, I got the *exact* TV I wanted because I didn't have to pick from a limited inventory. I wasn't pressured by some sleazy salesman that smells like garlic. I didn't 'settle' for what they had, vs. what I really wanted. There were no crying babies and cranked-up gangster rap playing on demo units. No fighting for a parking space down the south 40, in the rain. No thank you, I do all my shopping online now. Oh, did I mention its much cheaper this way too?

It's not luck - it's competition. There's a Stop 'N Rob on every street corner. If you ABSOLUTELY MUST have a box of corn flakes in the next twenty minutes, paying $6.00 for the box is of secondary importance.

And the $46.50 difference in the price, knucklehead!

nothing wrong with buying online, my point was that just because the headquarters of the online shop is in a state with no sales tax they shouldn't be exempt

several shops here have both a regular shop and an online shop, you can shop online and have it shipped or you can go pick it up at the store some even have drive-in

-Lasse