Another New Tax may Be Headed Your Way.....

[Zam-Zam]

Don't you love the way they name these things? The "Marketplace Fairness Tax"......



WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate is expected to open debate Monday evening on a bill that would allow for the collection of sales taxes on items bought online, pushing forward legislation that is pitting state leaders and businesses in support of the measure against conservatives and senators from states with sales taxes.

Monday's expected vote follows a nonbinding vote in March in favor of including the online sales tax legislation in the 2014 budget resolution. A bipartisan group of 75 senators voted in favor of the legislation, which has blurred party lines. The bill -- known as the Marketplace Fairness Act -- would enable businesses to collect sales tax on online purchases and send them to the state where the buyer resides. A 1992 Supreme Court decision allows for the tax on online sales, but only if the purchaser voluntarily sends the tax to his or her state tax agency. The issue is a top priority for cash-strapped state and local governments nationwide, with the National Conference of State Legislatures estimating that states collectively lost $23.3 billion in sales tax revenue in 2012 due to online sales.


Complete text: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/marketplace-fairness-act_n_3133866.html

 

[OldGaffer]

The middle class has no lobbying power, that tax will pass. But this part of the tax will never pass.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-22/finance-lobby-says-online-sales-bill-could-yield-new-taxt.html

 

[EatTheRich]

Maybe if we had stronger unions they could go to bat for the working class.

 

[fairsheet]

"Marketplace Fairness Tax" is actually the perfect descriptor for this one. Although, radical socialists from the left and from the right, might not quite understand it!

For my part, I can't figure out why the hell the current regime has been allowed to exist for as long as it has. On-line retailers are more efficient, almost by definition. They employ fewer people than the "brick and mortars", they generate less wealth than the "brick and mortars", and they pay less in local taxes than the "brick and mortars".

That's the just the way it is. There's nothing a free market could or should do, to counter the "on-liners". BUT....given their many across-the-board advantages, why in the HELL would we even THINK to hand them a sales tax advantage, on top of it all?

 

[Corruptbuddha]

Tax and Spend.


It's what the government does.

 

[Zam-Zam]

It's less money in the hands of the middle class, and more in the hands of the government. Naturally, the government sees that as more 'fair'.

 

[Friday13]

I am charged tax by most online retailers.

 

[fairsheet]

My suggestion that absolving online retailers from collecting sales taxes and online buyers from paying taxes, represents a market "failure", seems to completely escape the radical-socialists above.

On a sidenote, this rule would apply only to those doing more than $1 Million in annual sales. Today, I listened to some weenie-whining "E-Bayer", complaining about how much "work" this would represent for her. Call me insensitive, but if she's doing $1 Million+ (which she apparently IS) on E-Bay, I've got no sympathy for her having to do some extra work.

 

[happyatheist]

My suggestion that absolving online retailers from collecting sales taxes and online buyers from paying taxes, represents a market "failure", seems to completely escape the radical-socialists above.

On a sidenote, this rule would apply only to those doing more than $1 Million in annual sales. Today, I listened to some weenie-whining "E-Bayer", complaining about how much "work" this would represent for her. Call me insensitive, but if she's doing $1 Million+ (which she apparently IS) on E-Bay, I've got no sympathy for her having to do some extra work.

I don't believe it should be limited to those who makes lots of money. I am attempting to sell my stuff online and I have no problem with collecting sales tax.

What I find stupid about the bill is this: the retailer has to charge taxes according to where the buyer is from.

That is about the dumbest thing I ever heard.

If I live in NC and I travel to TX and I buy stuff in TX, then I pay the TX sales tax and it goes in the TX coffers. Brick and mortar retailers are not required to assess taxes based on where the purchaser is from, they charge the taxes assessed by the state/county/town where their retail business is located.

I do not think online selling is any different. The way I see it, if someone from OH wants to buy something on the website of my retail location, which is NC, then they are effectively "travelling" to NC to make the purchase, and all I should have to charge is NC sales tax because that's where my retail/warehouse location is.

I don't see why the sales tax collected by internet retailers should be different from the sales tax collected by brick and mortar retailers.

 

[NightSwimmer]

I don't see why the sales tax collected by internet retailers should be different from the sales tax collected by brick and mortar retailers.

Is an on-line retailer's "location" their home office, or the building in which their website servers reside?

If smaller on-line retail businesses are exempt from sales tax, then shouldn't smaller brick & mortars qualify for the tax break as well?

 

[happyatheist]

Is an on-line retailer's "location" their home office, or the building in which their website servers reside?

If smaller on-line retail businesses are exempt from sales tax, then shouldn't smaller brick & mortars qualify for the tax break as well?

The retailer's location is where the goods are and will ship from. So, yeah, places like amazon.com will be required to do a little more work than the rest of us because they have multiple warehouses, but, that's still the way Walmart collects taxes for every individual brick and mortar store they have.

Smaller online retailers/ individual sellers shouldn't be exempt from the tax collection requirement.

 

[lilly]

edit: wrong thread

 

[NightSwimmer]

The retailer's location is where the goods are and will ship from.

Many online retailers don't even have warehouses. They merely process orders. The goods ship to the customer from a different entity in a different location -- often overseas.

 

[Craig]

I don't believe it should be limited to those who makes lots of money. I am attempting to sell my stuff online and I have no problem with collecting sales tax.

What I find stupid about the bill is this: the retailer has to charge taxes according to where the buyer is from.

That is about the dumbest thing I ever heard.

If I live in NC and I travel to TX and I buy stuff in TX, then I pay the TX sales tax and it goes in the TX coffers. Brick and mortar retailers are not required to assess taxes based on where the purchaser is from, they charge the taxes assessed by the state/county/town where their retail business is located.

I do not think online selling is any different. The way I see it, if someone from OH wants to buy something on the website of my retail location, which is NC, then they are effectively "travelling" to NC to make the purchase, and all I should have to charge is NC sales tax because that's where my retail/warehouse location is.

I don't see why the sales tax collected by internet retailers should be different from the sales tax collected by brick and mortar retailers.

Then use servers located in Delaware. As "my" location is devoid of sales tax, then no charges should be made. This places us in the same spot as before. Local retailers are the ones leading this change, as it is a clear advantage to online retailers. Not only can one shop at home using the web, they get a tax break for doing so.

Sure...I can drive to Delaware to save money...but that means I must drive to Delaware.

 

[Dino]

Wow, imagine that. One business sector seeks government help to crush another.

We should definitely be assisting such a maneuver.

Craig: never saw a tax he couldn't support.

 

[Craig]

Wow, imagine that. One business sector seeks government help to crush another.

We should definitely be assisting such a maneuver.

Craig: never saw a tax he couldn't support.

It is small business being "crushed"...and it is they who are supporting this tax.

 

[Dino]

There are no small businesses who do a majority of their marketing via internet? Please, you're making up your own facts on this one.

 

[Craig]

There are no small businesses who do a majority of their marketing via internet? Please, you're making up your own facts on this one.

Feel free to inform yourself of the arguments.

http://www.standwithmainstreet.com/

[h=4]What is the Alliance for Main Street Fairness?[/h] The Alliance for Main Street Fairness is a coalition dedicated to ensuring sales tax laws treat all businesses equally. An online sales tax loophole currently puts local businesses at risk, and we are working to level the playing field.

 

[fairsheet]

Some kook above, is suggesting that requiring on-line retailers to collect sales tax, is a matter of the guvmint DISadvantaging on-liners in favor of brick and mortarers? Now of course, any IDIOT can see that the truth is the exact opposite.

But...the kook's response goes to what I've been thinking for along time. All too many Americans feel that the "truth" is whatever they feel it is.

 

[happyatheist]

Then use servers located in Delaware. As "my" location is devoid of sales tax, then no charges should be made. This places us in the same spot as before. Local retailers are the ones leading this change, as it is a clear advantage to online retailers. Not only can one shop at home using the web, they get a tax break for doing so.

Sure...I can drive to Delaware to save money...but that means I must drive to Delaware.

As I said, I don't think it should be based on where the servers are, but where the goods are. But, yes, if large retailers want to offer tax-free shopping online, by all means, there is nothing to stop them from setting up their shipping warehouses in states/counties that charge no sales tax.

And when I lived in MA, I often drove to NH to make pricey purchases because NH also had no sales tax. If you wish to travel to spare the taxes, that is definitely a possibility for some.