Tax-Free Internet Shopping? Not On Our Watch!

News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:34 AM EDT

Article Source: CNET News.com

If tax-hungry politicians get their way, the days of ordering items over the Internet and not paying sales tax may become just a fond memory.

Right now, if a California resident orders something from Seattle-based Amazon.com, for instance, he or she won't be charged sales tax at the time of purchase. That's because Amazon doesn't have offices in the state of California.

Pro-tax politicians want to change this by allowing California to force Amazon to collect and submit sales taxes--and they may have found an ally in a U.S. Congress that's controlled by Democrats. (Note: See our related story on new taxes on digital downloads.)

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{"commentId":1696920,"authorDomain":"stevehouse"}

SteveHouse

I guess it was only a matter of time...

Technically, of course, Americans in states with sales taxes are supposed to keep track of out-of-state purchases and cough up the necessary sales tax on April 15--the concept is known as a "use tax". But state tax collectors have long complained that in practice, that just doesn't happen, and that money has been unfairly left in taxpayers' pocketbooks.

That statement said a lot to me.

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#1 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:35 AM EDT

{"commentId":1697490,"authorDomain":"cobbs"}

steveoutdoorrec

The big flaw in the plan is that while there is a state sales tax, there are also county sales taxes. So as the states want businesses to collect what they think they are due the next step is for the counties to jump in. That would be a nightmare for any business.

{"commentId":1697490,"threadId":"250831","contentId":"1433613","authorDomain":"cobbs"}

#2 - Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:51 AM EDT

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STEVEHOUSE

Backyard

Tax-Free Internet Shopping? Not On Our Watch!

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