No More Tax Free Online Purchases For New York With New "Amazon Tax" Bill

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madgeek

CAG Veteran
No More Tax Free Online Purchases For New York With New "Amazon Tax" Bill


In case living in New York wasn't already expensive enough, state lawmakers passed the "Amazon Tax" bill this week, which will require online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even when they don't have physical operations there. New York-based retailers have argued for years that the Amazon loophole gives out-of-state online shopping centers an unfair advantage. Technically, consumers are supposed to report purchases they make online on their tax returns, but virtually nobody does it and enforcement is impossible.
The bill still needs a signature from Governor David Paterson to officially become law, but he's widely expected to OK it. The state government expects the new requirement to generate about $50 million in revenue this fiscal year.
Meanwhile, as a resident of this fair city who uses Amazon like her life depends on it, I get to watch my wallet empty 8.375 percent faster - in the middle of a recession! Thanks, government!

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If you are in NY, call up your rep and ask him to reconsider... If you are outside, you better hope, this isn't the begninning of the end.

If you always bought offline... Good for you! :)
 
[quote name='JJSP']Do you report it at the end of the year on your taxes like you're supposed to?[/quote]


I'm not supposed to... I don't live in the US :)
 
But, if I think about it's applicability to me, this is a good question.

In Thailand and Europe, you get a VAT refund, if you are not a resident of the country. Too bad, there is nothing like that in the States.

Got that refund more than once to know that this works very well...

:)
 
[quote name='JolietJake']Sucks for folks living in new york, at least they don't have a 9.25 % sales tax though.:cry::roll:[/quote]

Ship it to NJ and make a monthly trip to collect the stuff... :)

Heck I might yet do that. I was planning to stay with some relatives in NY this summer vacation. I'll ship the stuff to NJ and pick it up, when I'm there to meet friends... :)
 
man its the fucking world wide web not the America web

fucking this country was started on revolution against Taxes

now we tax every thing

fucking we need another revolution

Get your Guns Ready:twoguns::beer:
 
[quote name='Koggit']Why does the tax go to the New York government and not the Washington government?[/quote]

Shhh, don't give the govt any more ideas! ;)
 
[quote name='JJSP']Do you report it at the end of the year on your taxes like you're supposed to?[/quote]

What kind of fucking liberal weeny idiot actually does that?
 
[quote name='evanft']Michigan has this. No one actually pays it.[/quote]

Pretty sure any state has this. This law is making it so the retailers pay the tax to the state, not the consumers.
 
I'd like to not pay taxes online either, but I really can't think of a good reason why I shouldn't so I can't argue with laws for it. People do buy things online to avoid paying taxes and it is unfair for other in-state businesses, so either they should all be taxed or they all shouldn't be taxed.
 
There's an Amazon distro center about 15 miles from me, so I pay tax anytime I order from there. Not a big deal, as far as I'm concerned.
 
Doesn't this fall under "interstate commerce", which the US Congress has an enumerated power in the Constitution to regulate? This could probably be stricken down as Unconstitutional.
 
This will probably happen in more and more states within the next few years. No tax and free shipping was a huge reason to order from Amazon
 
[quote name='SpazX']I'd like to not pay taxes online either, but I really can't think of a good reason why I shouldn't so I can't argue with laws for it. People do buy things online to avoid paying taxes and it is unfair for other in-state businesses, so either they should all be taxed or they all shouldn't be taxed.[/QUOTE]

My issue is if the retailer DOESN'T tax but charges shipping. One or the other should be applied NOT both as I believe it gives an unfair advantage to in state businesses and this helps keep them honest costwise.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']My issue is if the retailer DOESN'T tax but charges shipping. One or the other should be applied NOT both as I believe it gives an unfair advantage to in state businesses and this helps keep them honest costwise.[/quote]

Well first of all shipping isn't a government issue, so you can't compare shipping and taxes. If a company decides to ship merchandise directly to its customers that's their decision, so if that's a disadvantage it's one they caused themselves. Besides, most online retailers have realized that shipping causes people to think twice about ordering online and that's why pretty much every major online retailer has a "buy $X of merchandise and shipping is free" deal.
 
If a bi-product of this is that in-store prices will fall because more people would rather buy from a B&M store and as a result they'd turn over more merchandise and prices will be comparable to online and...

screw it, I hope this legislation burns. We all know if NY does it Cali will be next.
 
Here's the real problem about this legislation: It hurts small business more than Amazon type ones.

Big companies can handle the overhead of having to send tax monies to every state. But with small time people, its going to be a pain in the ass to set up accounts with all 50 states.
If this goes through everywhere, people who sell on ebay/amazon/half/whatever are going to legally have to send money to whatever state the buyer is from. Thats going to kill alot of small time people.
At least, thats how i interpreted it from those "Seller Notice" emails ebay sent out about this subject a couple times.
 
Especially because the liberal idiots in California always base their budget on overly-optimistic future income projections... so they always overextend themselves on stupid social programs (often to support illegal aliens, etc.)...

Now, with the recent economic downturn, we have a huge budget deficit, and they'll be sure to try to grab any money they can...
 
what congress should do is take away state's rights to charge different sales taxes.
Make it a flat 5% sales tax to all purchases anywhere and everywhere.
Let the differences be made up in local and state income taxes.
Taxing internet purchases when the retailer has no physical location, and hence gets no benefits from that state, is crazy.
Why not also charge sales tax to every state your purchase travels through.
 
Retailers are only responsible for collecting sales taxes if they have a presence in a state. If they don't, then it's up to the consumer to declare the tax come April. This law will hurt small businesses; there's no viable way for them to manage the sales tax policies across all jurisdictions in the country.

So small businesses that only exist because of the internet's low overhead cost would get strangled by tons of paperwork.

HOW ABOUT CUTTING SPENDING INSTEAD? The Founding Fathers revolted over a tax regime that was less restrictive than the current one.
 
I mentioned this to my prof. this past Monday and he said it will be challenged by someone and deemed unconstitutional, since it fails both the minimum contacts and substantial nexus prongs for interstate taxation. He cited two or three cases but I don't remember them. He said states have tried this before, and failed. They've tried with the internet and also with mail-order catalogs, consistently failing on both fronts. It seems silly that they still waste their time passing the legislation...
 
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