M240 and Internet sales tax: Will phone orders be taxed?

Vics said:
I heard on the news tonight that phone orders will not be affected. If you guys don't want to pay your taxes, who will you call when your house is on fire? How will you get to work or school with no public roads? Where will you go to school if you can't afford private education? What a bunch of whiners! Pay your taxes and stop complaining.
Click to expand...

So, you are trying to say sales tax is the only way people are taxed? I wish.
 
jsrockit said:
So, you are trying to say sales tax is the only way people are taxed? I wish.
Click to expand...

Yes Unpaid debt is essentially a deferred flat tax (with interest) in the form of inflation. The only true difference is that those who can squirrel money away overseas (in other currencies) are excepted from the impact. thereby making it a regressive tax.
 
From the Washington Post -

"“Some suggest this is a tax on the Internet,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, said during Monday’s floor debate. “But every senator knows there’s a law against taxing the Internet. This is a tax that everybody owes that only some people pay.”

States have thrown their support behind the Marketplace Fairness Act, because they want these uncollected taxes to help fill their coffers. Brick-and-mortar stores also support it as a way to level the playing field. They point out that online stores enjoy an unfair advantage, because many consumers go online to save money by avoiding sales tax.

But many online retailers, including eBay, oppose the bill, because they say it would shift the unfair advantage to the opposite end of the spectrum. While traditional retailers only collect the tax rates for where their stores are located, which is fairly simple, online stores would have to collect sales taxes based on where their customers are located.

An online retailer would have to deal with more than 9,600 tax-collecting jurisdictions, including state and local governments. Not only do these governments have their own, unique tax rates, but they also classify products different. For instance, in one city, a candy bar may be considered taxable good, but in another city it may be classified as “food,” which is often not taxed at all."
 
damn, had not heard about the chance internet sales being taxed from now on... looks like to me Europe will be the best bet to buy one and getting the VAT refund.
 
umcelinho said:
damn, had not heard about the chance internet sales being taxed from now on... looks like to me Europe will be the best bet to buy one and getting the VAT refund.
Click to expand...
There should be no VAT on exports outside the EU, anyway. Nor should there be state sales tax on exports outside the USA.

The law, as I understand it, is ONLY to make (rather more) US citizens do what they should have been doing all along, i.e. paying the same sales tax that they'd have paid if they had bought the goods in their home state.

This could be VERY good news for smaller camera stores, as the large out-of-state dealers will no longer enjoy the unrealistic and unfair advantage that they have formerly enjoyed

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
This could be VERY good news for smaller camera stores, as the large out-of-state dealers will no longer enjoy the unrealistic and unfair advantage that they have formerly enjoyed

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

Not good.

"An online retailer would have to deal with more than 9,600 tax-collecting jurisdictions, including state and local governments. Not only do these governments have their own, unique tax rates, but they also classify products different. For instance, in one city, a candy bar may be considered taxable good, but in another city it may be classified as “food,” which is often not taxed at all."


I think of the frauds that will be perpetrated in the name of government. The coffers that will be filled that will line politicians pockets. The funds that will never trickle out to help those that need it. The off shore accounts that will flourish. The logistical nightmare of every mom and pop, brick and mortar store that sells goods on the net.

God bless America.
 
The reason this tax is bad is because it gives the federal government say over how state tax is collected and makes (forces) residents of states that have no sales tax pay sales tax. Some states have higher property taxes or income taxes in lieu of sales taxes and now the people who live there (some because they don't like sales tax) will be taxed higher for items bought on the internet. For people who shout be quiet and pay your taxes, they obviously don't pay the same taxes as some of us, added up my taxes amount to over 65% of my income (not including the sales tax) that's a lot of working for the man. This is a precurser to the VAT tax for the USA, if this goes through the VAT will be here in no time. Then I might even be happy since everyone will have to contribute, not just a small percentage of us.
 
kbg32 said:
. . . "An online retailer would have to deal with more than 9,600 tax-collecting jurisdictions, including state and local governments. Not only do these governments have their own, unique tax rates, but they also classify products different. For instance, in one city, a candy bar may be considered taxable good, but in another city it may be classified as “food,” which is often not taxed at all." . . . The logistical nightmare of every mom and pop, brick and mortar store that sells goods on the net.
Click to expand...
First, where's the quote from?

Second, there is a million dollar lower limit on turnover before dealers are required to do this.

Third, it's very easy to write software that calculates taxes on the basis of a ZIP code, when preparing the bill. UNLESS that software is grossly overpriced, this doesn't look like much of a 'nightmare'.

Cheers,

R.
 
nanthor said:
The reason this tax is bad is because it gives the federal government say over how state tax is collected and makes (forces) residents of states that have no sales tax pay sales tax. Some states have higher property taxes or income taxes in lieu of sales taxes and now the people who live there (some because they don't like sales tax) will be taxed higher for items bought on the internet. For people who shout be quiet and pay your taxes, they obviously don't pay the same taxes as some of us, added up my taxes amount to over 65% of my income (not including the sales tax) that's a lot of working for the man. This is a precurser to the VAT tax for the USA, if this goes through the VAT will be here in no time. Then I might even be happy since everyone will have to contribute, not just a small percentage of us.
Click to expand...
Highlight 1: Are you sure? In my reading, the tax payable would be the same as it would be if you bought it in your own state. In other words, if you're in a state with no sales tax, no sales tax will be chargeable. If you're in a state with 8% sales tax, you'll pay 8% sales tax.

You are of course right that VAT is a much superior tax, and for that matter, you could even have state VAT taxes, just as different countries in the EU have different VAT rates. VAT is pretty tiresome (I've been VAT registered, on and off, since the 1980s) but it's better than the alternatives.

Highlight 2: Who is this 'small percentage' paying sales taxes? Why isn't everyone paying the sales tax due?

Cheers,

R.
 
kbg32 said:
Quote is from the Washington Times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/senate-oks-internet-sales-taxes-bill-goes-house/

In the USA, not only are there Federal taxes, but each state has their own, which vary.

Here is a link to tax info for retirees - https://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-by-state
Click to expand...
Dear Keith,

You are being more than a little selective. Go up two paragraphs from that quote, in the same article, and you will see that both the States and the bricks-and-mortar stores are quoted as being in favour: the latter for the reasons I gave. EDIT: I see that you did in fact quote this (and give a source) in an earlier post, which I inexplicably missed. Sorry.

The same article suggests that up to $23 BILLION in sales tax is evaded. That's quite a lot of money. If it were paid by those who evade it, honest people would be able to pay less.

Yes, I know how state and federal taxes work -- I paid both when I lived in California -- but I can't quite see the relevance of the new link.

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
The same article suggests that up to $23 BILLION in sales tax is evaded. That's quite a lot of money. If it were paid by those who evade it, honest people would be able to pay less.
Click to expand...

Probably not. But we'd be able to pay honest people the same as we pay to Amazon and other multinational online retailers (who are the heaviest sales tax evaders right now).
 
sevo said:
Probably not. But we'd be able to pay honest people the same as we now pay to Amazon and other multinational online retailers (who are the heaviest sales tax evaders right now).
Click to expand...

Funny. When I purchase from Amazon, I pay sales tax and have for quite some time.
 
Most states do not have a mechanism in place to collect tax from citizens on out of state purchases. They do collect on major purchases such as a car or expensive items such as artwork. In order to register a car, you must prove you paid the sales tax on it for instance, it cannot be avoided, however on used cars, sellers and buyers simply forge the sales amount on the bill of sale. There have been court cases over millions of dollars spent on artwork out of state, and then shipped to avoid sales tax.

Each taxpayer is supposed to report what items were purchased out of state, and then remit the required sales tax.

The current law being proposed does not change the tax liability, but shifts the payment and bookkeeping to the seller from the buyer. Buyers are currently cheating.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see.Sorry: I simply misread the original. I understand perfectly well what you say, and indeed I already knew it. But for some reason, I didn't connect what I knew with what I read. It happens sometimes -- like 'wrong-slotting' in racing. Once you've made one small mistake, you're committed to making more...

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
....The law, as I understand it, is ONLY to make (rather more) US citizens do what they should have been doing all along, i.e. paying the same sales tax that they'd have paid if they had bought the goods in their home state.....

R.
Click to expand...

In Michigan, when you fill out your yearly taxes, you're asked whether you purchased anything out-of-state that you need to pay sales tax on. Most folks lie and say no.

Jim B.
 
Sales tax is a fact of life, as is VAT in most other countries. I've always paid my taxes, that is what gives me the right to complain when I see the money being used in ways I feel are unwise.

But ... Joe is right. Lets keep thing to cameras and photography, and get off the taxes and politics jag, ok?

G
 
Roger Hicks said:
There should be no VAT on exports outside the EU, anyway. Nor should there be state sales tax on exports outside the USA.

The law, as I understand it, is ONLY to make (rather more) US citizens do what they should have been doing all along, i.e. paying the same sales tax that they'd have paid if they had bought the goods in their home state.

This could be VERY good news for smaller camera stores, as the large out-of-state dealers will no longer enjoy the unrealistic and unfair advantage that they have formerly enjoyed

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I know that lots of folks go to the local shop to fondle and learn and then buy online. This whole thing has been a reality here in California for a while now. The last two items I bought from KEH had CA sales tax added. I checked with the local shops first to be sure they didn't have what I needed.
 
I always pay VAT on purchases in my country and whenever I order something from outside the country I pay VAT plus a large customs fee. I don't quite get why you Americans are complaining. Because it just got harder to evade taxes??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom