Online Sales Tax

[muleman69]

Because you live in that state and everyone that buys locally pays a sales tax to support that state and the services that it provides to everyone that lives there including you. Take a few minutes to think about it. What if everyone bought across state lines and your state collected no sales tax. What would happen? The state would either go bankrupt or they would raise taxes on other things to survive.

Or they would have cut back on a lot of unneeded programs and tighten there belts. States don't live off of sales tax alone.

 

[geo.ulrich]

what about international purchases ? are they now open to taxes if ordered on line ?

 

[Legionnaire]

^^ More than likely, small businesses (assuming they are not exempted under a certain sales level) will contract with a third party who will do this for multiple vendors. The business will just need a database interface that collects the data, and if they are already selling on line, that should be relatively easy. This will provide business opportunities for some.

 

[dcali]

The way I look at it, the economics of it will more or less wash out over time. Are there really any significant retailers who do *not* sell online? As for local retailers who don't, I when don't buy from them, it's because I don't have to leave my house or they don't have what I want, not because of the tax. The days of being a bricks and mortar only business are numbered, or will at least be limited to certain things.

As a competitive matter, I don't think it really matters. And technically, most (all?) states require you to pay sales tax anyhow, they just don't make the merchant collect it. Sure, some people will lose, and some will win. That's life I guess.

What gets me is the PAPERWORK. Registering in 50 states, figuring out which ones need reports and when (monthly in some cases) - a huge pain in the ass. There are THOUSANDS of local taxing jurisdictions - something like 1600 in Texas alone, and many different product categories that are taxed differently in each of those. It's literally impossible for a small busines to keep on top of without using sales tax management software (i'm sure those guys are thrilled). There's something wrong with that. We all need to pay (some!) taxes, but it's getting damn near impossible to do it right, or to know if you're doing it right. I find myself hoping for federal legislation for the first time ever. Never mind, they'll just screw it up even more.

 

[Larryh128]

I understand what yer saying but I'm tired of paying taxes...Heck we are taxed to death and if they could get away with it
they would tax us after death...LOL I just wish they left things the way they were.

Many states do tax you after death, called an "Estate Tax".

 

[nmkid]

Call me an ostrich with my head buried in the ground but...I don't care about sales tax! If they collect it, I pay it. I don't worry about where's it's going. Life is getting short (73) and I have more important things to think about.

 

[Albany Mountain]

If we don't like it, lobby for elimination of sales tax altogether. but be prepared to battle with the entities being funded by it.

 

[The German]

If you consider all states participating in a similar fashion, it would not affect one state more than the other as they all would have sold to out-of state addresses without taxes as well - and all are now at risk losing that out-of-state revenue, with the chance of gaining it locally.

The only and biggest winner are the states. Everybody else is losing and I don't even want to think about having to send tax payments that are worth less than the stamp and the check itself. I can imagine that the federal government will step in "to help" and will start collecting a tax for that help and there you'll have the VAT.

Just for the records - it is my understanding that there were never tax free purchases. Whenever you filed you state tax, you were required to list out of state purchases and yes, if you did not lie and list them all, they would have charged you tax for it...

I agree it was fun while it lasted. The truth is this was a huge loophole that affected local retailers and our states revenue streams. You will still likely be able to get the hard to find stuff you want on the net vs local but this gives retailers a chance to stay in the game. I have enjoyed the benefits of these tax free purchases but have alway found it fundamentally wrong.

 

[gme]

to the consumer it means some extra expense with your purchase, other than that not much hassle, to the retailer it means filing quarterly returns with 50 state revenue agencies, big hassle

 

[scubohuntr]

When I'm in California I pay California rates. When I'm at home in Florida I pay local rates...so why would I pay Florida rates for something I buy from a California company?

Because you are buying it in Florida. Look at it this way- your computer becomes a tiny little retail outlet for Brownells, Midsouth, Midway, or whoever. Your computer is in Florida. You wouldn't expect to pay Missouri taxes at a Florida Bass Pro because it's a Missouri-based company, would you? Maybe this seems a bit less significant to me because I'm in Montana- no sales tax .

In some states, there used to be a mechanism for getting a refund or exemption on out-of-state sales tax, but it was a huge hassle and raised red flags with the audit Gestapo. I don't know if there is still something like that or not.

 

[hoz53]

There is software you can plug right into your sales client that will use your customers home address and tell you exactly what tax you need to be collecting. Then you can use it to generate a report and it will tell you how much you need to send to each place and how much you get to keep.

Or like me just do not collect it and tell the customer it is their responsibility to pay their state tax.

if the state catches you doing that wont it cause you problems or it it fine to do that?

 

[hoz53]

Think about the implementation. The small business will be required to file sales tax reports in all states where sales took place, sending in the sales tax they have collected plus feds, plus DC. Anything I missed? Enjoy filling out your 52 tax reports.

that will be quite a burden on a one man shop who ships to quite a few states thats for sure

 

[Trophied]

And in Texas, lots of little (and big) districts like library and hospital, and on and on. Each of those districts gets their little percentage, and from experience, if you call the state offices to find out if you are in any special districts they will tell you yes or no based on your address, but they may not KNOW that to be true. If you call the districts office itself you may get the opposite answer because they actually have a map and look up your address. Sometimes you are in or out of a special district merely by the side of the street you are on. In Texas if you under collect/over collect sales tax you may be subject to tax fraud and prosecution. Anybody want to try and tell me there is software that will solve that issue that probably exists all over the country? Bet not. Certainly not on a day to day basis, since those things and percentages of tax revenue they are due vary all the time. Neither the attorneys involved in arguing this case nor the justices deciding it have obviously ever had any small business experience and have no understanding of the enormity of this problem. So the solution would be to only charge the individual state's base tax rate and wait until one of those "special districts" decides to bring the case that they are not receiving their "fair" share. Now there's precedent for them to win that argument. Guess where that leaves business, and the consumer. Begging for a national sales tax, which the Democrats will morph into a monster of a VAT tax. That my friends will be a REAL boon for unbridled government spending.
Enjoy.

 

[pirate ammo]

that will be quite a burden on a one man shop who ships to quite a few states thats for sure

one man shop is HISTORY now really,,that is why I'm selling off stuff and selling the building too.Will be going to a whole different sales mode,,

 

[dragman]

It will absolutely help small gun shops.
Lets say a gun costs 1000 new. The normal mark up on that is $100! Yep that's it. and the small shop doesn't have the revenue to negotiate tinny credit card rates like these internet places (buds example) so they are going to lose 3% taking that 100 profit down to $70! Now you take into account that the internet entity doesn't have a stocked inventory they all get drop shipped from distributors so all they do is mail money back and forth they are happy and able to sale for say $50 over cost. And there cost is cheaper since they do the volume with the distributors. The don't pay 3% they pay closer to .5% so all that considered the "internet store doesn't have the C.C fees that small business does they get deeper discounts and have less overhead. At least now they don't get to cut out the tax also!

 

[spife7980]

You want to try a different brand of powder. You buy "one pound" local. Cost about $30.00 + tax. Maybe $1.50/$2.00? So close to $33.00/$35.00 out the door.
You can get it "online" for $22.00 + shipping + Hazmat.
Shipping anywhere from $10.00 to $15.00
Hazmat maybe another $25.00?
So your "online deal" just cost you somewhere around $60.00.
You tell me where you saved the $$. And how much did it cost you to drive your car/truck to the store to shop local??
And if you can't afford to pay the taxes, you can't afford to play the game.
NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!!

What retard is going to buy 1lb of powder on line though?

1lb local of H4350 is 32.99*1.0825=35.71
8lb local is 232.99*1.0825=251.14

1lb online would be crazy like you said.
8lb online is 207.49+20 hazmat+23.16=250.65 BUT online has penny hazmat and free shipping which makes that price 207.50...

Theres no free lunch but you also dont have to let yourself get fleeced for an extra 40 bucks.

 

[gme]

the rule of "the more you tax the less you get" will remain true, cash will still be king

 

[LarryDScott]

I think many are confused as to how this will work. It has nothing to do w/the state where the purchaser lives.
If you buy a trigger from me. Ky sales tax is 6%. That's what everyone pays, regardless of your state of residence.

Lets say you make a purchase from MID SOUTH, their tax rate is 9.75%. OUCH thats going to hurt.

Its not complicated, JUST EXPENSIVE. LDS

 

[hogpatrol]

I live in Delaware. Delaware has no sales tax!! Whoopee, right? This new law won't affect ME because EVERYTHING that I buy that's delivered to me in Delaware is free of tax! The downside is, Delaware charges an 8 1/2% tax on ALL of my income.

Josh, what about the hidden sales tax, aka the gross receipts tax paid by businesses? That gets passed down to the consumer. The pain is there. We just don't feel it.
I still like it that we won't get whacked by the online vendors so I guess that's still a win for us.

 

[gme]

I think many are confused as to how this will work. It has nothing to do w/the state where the purchaser lives.
If you buy a trigger from me. Ky sales tax is 6%. That's what everyone pays, regardless of your state of residence.

Lets say you make a purchase from MID SOUTH, their tax rate is 9.75%. OUCH thats going to hurt.

Its not complicated, JUST EXPENSIVE. LDS

The original lawsuit by South Dakota wanted online retailers outside the state to collect sales tax for sales inside the state and remit them to the state
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Wayfair,_Inc.