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View Full Version : Action Alert: Internet Sales Tax Looms




TaftFan
04-22-2013, 06:27 PM
http://libertycircle.blogspot.com/2013/04/action-alert-internet-sales-tax-looms.html

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aGameOfThrones
04-22-2013, 06:37 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't see what's so bad about an Internet sales tax? Fairness, right?

I buy from amazon for 99% of my crap.

paulbot24
04-22-2013, 06:56 PM
A pound of flesh, as long as everybody contributes exactly a pound, might be "fair" but that doesn't make it a good idea. Anybody up for a pound of flesh law? No? I didn't think so.

kahless
04-22-2013, 09:19 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't see what's so bad about an Internet sales tax? Fairness, right?

I buy from amazon for 99% of my crap.

Whatever happened to "no taxation without representation"? Businesses will be required to have the tax expertise to manage some 9600 tax jurisdictions in the US. This sets a horrible precedent.

They call it Amazon's billion dollar payday. That is why your beloved Amazon.com has been lobbying before congress begging for it. They see it as a business opportunity to make millions from interest payments and charge tax collection services to their resellers. At the same time they will crush their small business competition that can not possibly manage the costly tax collection.

I will never order anything from at Amazon.com ever again!

easycougar
04-22-2013, 09:45 PM
Can congress just please go home and stop now? A bunch of busybodies. IMO there's no reason they should ever be in DC...maybe once or twice a year total (no more than 5 days).

mad cow
04-22-2013, 10:27 PM
The unintended consequence of this law is that it will help huge internet companies like Amazon and cripple and kill small local mail order and internet businesses that it purports to help.

The only way some mom and pop operation selling something out of their home can keep up with the massive amount of paperwork this law is going to require is to sell through Amazon or such and surrender a huge part of their profits to do so.

Keith and stuff
04-22-2013, 10:52 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't see what's so bad about an Internet sales tax? Fairness, right?

I buy from amazon for 99% of my crap.

NH, DE, OR and MT don't have a general sales tax. This is a big burden on businesses in those states. Depending on how it is implemented, it may also be a burden on the governments in those states. It is a mall burden on companies in all of the other states. It will increase prices and lower company profits. It might even lead to layoffs.

More importantly, it hurts competitive tax policies between states. It discourages states from keeping sales taxes low, thus leads to increased taxes. It also might increase the federal government to get involved in taxing the Internet.

Weston White
04-22-2013, 11:31 PM
There are so many issues to be raised by this pending sales tax legislation, which include (mentioning but a few):


Very dire concerns and unforeseen consequents over the invasion of personal Internet privacy.
The Internet has simply outdated the business model of yesteryear, businesses either need to adapt, readapt, or close their doors.
People do not shop via the Internet to simply avoid sales taxes; they do so for (1) personal convenience and speed, and (2) increased product availability and selection.
Shopping Online is provably better for the environment, e.g., by helping to reduce traffic congestion, reducing vehicle wear and tear, etc.
Will this act not actually serve to sweeten the deal for foreign Online competitors, so to provide them with the to-be nice cost advantages associated with selling products without the complications associated with taxation in mass?
The intent of this act is to level the playing field for brick-and-mortar businesses; however, they only have to worry about filing taxes in one state, at least for the most part, while their Internet counterparts are (that is if this bill is ratified), will have to worry about filing taxes in all 50-states (or if by Barry Soetoro's count 57-states). That doesn't seem so fair to me.
It seems (or so I presume at least) that this legislation entirely overlooks purchases made via mail order, telephone, or through third party special order requests—alternative options that have been publicly available for the last many decades, (so why has never any issues around state taxation been raised through their usage?)
This bill actually sounds like it might be paving the way for a hybrid method to the recently proposed “Fair Tax” that is being stoked and favored by progressives and neo-liberals alike to entirely replace the federal income tax.
This bill entirely obliterates all reasoning that pertains to basic logic. That is, if I were to myself travel to another state to make a purchase of whatever articles, the state in which I had originated would have no legal right to tax that purchase and neither would it upon my return with my newly acquired articles. Also, nor could the states on their own tax my purchases acquired from foreign nations (save for a degree made by the federal government and with great limitations, regardless).
Shopping on the Internet has provided consumers with a modernized means with which to enjoy their shopping, from the comfort and privacy of their own homes, and that is all, nothing more. There is not some grand conspiracy involved on behalf of the whole of consumers to avoid intrastate taxation. And even if there were, then as they say vote with your feet. Perhaps the better alternative is for the states to begin reflecting upon their own sales taxes and tax rates and to adjust them to again favor the will of those residing within their state… You know all those people that had elected their representatives to serve their best interests—or this too novel of an idea for us to handle in our present socially dumbed-down, stupefied stage?

Most importantly however (regarding the context of the following, it should be noted that it is mainly referring to imports and exports with foreign nations, regardless, the underlying maxim is still sound, while the individual states are foreign to one another, with exception to what is specifically enumerated for within our U.S. Constitution), is the context of the following.

This act pending before the Legislature wholly violates the edict set forth within our U.S. Constitution (AI.,S.9,C.5) that:

“No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.”

Additionally as in A.I,S.10,C.2, whatever sums the individual states collect, as by such indirect taxes, will need to be turned over the U.S. Department of the Treasury anyway, less the states incurred expenses—and to only what amounts are absolutely necessary for administrating and enforcing such means of “inspection”:

“No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.”


Additional thoughts:

It could be argued that such a tax is really a direct tax, as it is levied upon the aspect of the private purchaser and not the public business itself. Realizing that this is yet another hybrid-tax modernization, which is absolutely intended to further bastardize the two primary modes of national taxation—direct vs. indirect.

Unless provided a statutory exception within the language of the act, it will inevitably lead down the path of providing a means for double taxation upon all sales or business transactions.

Personally, I am so sick and tired of this dissociation between the several states and the national government, at least when whatever issue pertains to our individual rights and liberties and the usurping of them on the part of the federal government, yet whenever an issue impacts the productivity of the individual state, within its own autonomy as a governmental machine, its has no truck with running off to cry at the federal government and be made individualistic. Merely, but wolves in sheep's clothing, most all of them.

Regardless, if this bill is made into public law or not, such a tax will not encourage me to shop at my local Walmart, et al. Ergo, I will still conduct the majority of my shopping over the Internet, however, I will just be taxed a bit more on each purchase. Either way, I fail to see how it is that this act is going to help local businesses in any substantial way, but it will most definitely add much needed lining to the pockets of state officials and executives alike (e.g., California just had something very similar to this on its voting ballot this last year).