Internet Sales Tax

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Do you agree with an internet sales tax?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • No

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • Yes - 1 or 2 percent with simplified tax laws.

    Votes: 2 33.3%
  • Total voters
    6
riser

riser

Illustrious
Feb 17, 2001
14,175
0
40,960
Thoughts on the internet sales tax? I can understand wanting to tax it since more business is going that way. I understand the impact on very small businesses and the burden of dealing with that as well. If I sell something on Ebay, will it be electronically tracked and I get hit with a tax bill? Interesting stuff.
 
A common sense online tax Im in favor of. I think I read that online sales make up ~200 Billion $ (3% of total) in sales every year, a 1% - 3% tax would generate.... 2-6 billion $ that could go a long way towards infrastructure, schools and all that good stuff. I actually hope a good chunk of that goes back into the internet in terms of computers for students, comp education classes, fiber upgrades, high speed hub upgrades, someone to crack down on spam and infected sites...

What concerns me is where do the tax dollars go, and how do they get there? Tax the seller even though the product is in a different state? Tax the seller and give that tax to the buyers state? What about sh*t getting shipped out of country?


Also just thinking about this.... Ive bought pizza online before, how in the hell would that get taxed?

 
Good points. My brother has an online business. I was thinking about him having to deal with all the taxation on his own. It's not like he's making a ton of money, couple tens of thousands of dollars a year on the side. Not enough to hire someone to help with the tax portion. I think he made $18k 2 years ago and last year made $27k from his business. Dealing with taxes might be enough for him to shutter it.
 


Buy it from Minnesota, theres no food tax, and the current governor wants to make a clothing tax as well.
Yes, we have high taxes, but some things neednt be taxed
 



I hear that and how complicated a program it could be wont be known until later. I hope its something stupid easy to calculate either done right in basket (Like how Google and paypal offer their basket services), or at the end of year as part of submitting taxes.

But then if they put that money back into internet infrastructure there would be more people able to "Shop" online, increasing customer base by a few million at a 1-3% tax seems to be a good deal, again depending on a few variables.

Interesting about eBay I never thought about it before but does a person pay taxes on ebay sales? If I sold a waffle that kinda looked like Jesus for 1,000$ would I get taxed on it? Does eBay pay the tax, or does eBay get anything out of the deal?

@JDJ I live and work in NH which has no sales tax, but a 9% food tax...

 
No tax on ebay stuff right now; Amazon will tax you now if you live in certain states though per new laws.

The question about the taxes is who holds the money until the bill is due? Do you put that tax money you collect in an account and pay the tax quarterly? Or yearly? That money doesn't instantly get transferred to the gov't, it sits in an account somewhere until they make the payment.

I knew a business owner who ended up going to jail after he didn't pay his worker's social security tax. He withheld everything but that and ended up going to jail for 2 years for not paying on $300,000+ in taxes over a course of 7 years that his business was open.
 
I agree with mingo that it seems like an inevitable response to the explosion of the online retail industry. If a small business would be knocked out by a 1%-3% sales tax then they weren't doing that much business anyways.

However, I would be more in favor of it if they dedicated it to a fund that can only be used for certain projects like infrastructure and education.

Also it might help the struggling brick and mortar stores compete and stay open.
 
All taxes collected should be the amount from which the business is in, as in state,and should go to that state, as its business climate supports that business.
Minnesotas is 6.875%, no clothing or food taxes so far, if the governor doesnt have his way.
I believe if a company loses business even over the internet because its states taxes are too high, then so be it, let the states who can compete better win
 
We got beer, land of the sky blue waters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o83xxWCel8g
We got the ladies
http://www.ivillage.com/best-worst-states-for-women-vt-ny-mn-wa-nh/8-a-435473
Well, its all about the fishing here in Minnesota, so, if youre going to invade, youd better be a fish right?
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1106586287001/asian-silver-carp-invade-minnesota-river/
Oh, and did I mention beer?
Theres nothing more American than beer, uhh err baseball right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luahkDuMJzU
Besides, you gotta have something to keep you warm with these winters
Even the beach boys wish they were California girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xFg-Hb-riE
 
Don't agree with the online sales tax. I view it as another intrusion of government into the free market. I interpreted the proposal to be another government tax grab to raise revenues and to subsidize brick and mortar businesses that are large campaign contributors. The traditional retailers need adapt to the online business environment and change their strategies to remain competitive. Taxing online retailers for having a competitive advantage just stinks of un-necessary government intervention.

The current tax for online purchases is more than enough, i.e.; if that business has facilities in the State you live in and you are purchasing the product online, then you are charged the State sales tax. Fair enough to me. More often than not, I've found that the combined cost of State sales tax and shipping is usually cheaper than paying for higher shipping costs from another State with no sales tax for the same product.
 

For this, we just borrow the next door team, which was considered Minnesotas team before the Vikings, and some homers still dare do this:
http://www.totalpackers.com/2011/11/09/theyll-all-be-wearing-cheeseheads-in-minnesota-video/

When it comes to football tho, my real team are these guys
http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=606981
 
Small update particularly to Riser's very good point.

I was listening to NPR and it looks like only companies or individuals doing more than 1 million in sales will be affected by the tax.
 
Im not so sure itll pass the house.
Small mom n pops on the internet dont do high volume, low margin buying and selling, so tho the brick n mortar next to you may have trouble competing, so too will the small internet businesses if this goes into effect.
Taxes are punitive, fairness is punitive.
 
If the tax is based on a revenue amount it would be better off for mom and pop. I understand the lost tax revenue due to internet sales and people not shopping at stores.. so I can understand that part.
 
Also depends on the business and its margins.
If say, mom n pop had wally world margins, they could make as little as 60K our of that million, which of course would be a chunk of what they make.
Now, since the current wally world already incorporates this penalty, its adjusted for the customer to already pay it.
And Im simply talking about the records and disbursement unto the governments, not so here, as it will all have to be adjusted accordingly, either thru absorbtion from the business, or passed onto for unto the government
 
Very good concept to do this. If you buy something on the internet pay the tax on it.That is part of the capitalistic way.

 
I don't know that I would call taxing a capitalistic idea. Though, I understand that with more business transitioning to the internet over local stores, revenues across the board are going down.
Local taxes will go down from sales tax, States won't be affected as much, Federal will benefit the most.

In fact, local economies suffer the most from internet transactions.
 
Mostly who suffer are the small mom and pop shops in these towns who depend on their income to survive.Not Amazon.Com!

 
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