along with a whole list of other sniveling cowards to long to list.

Texastoast on August 2, 2012 at 8:40 PM

And, what, pray tell, would you have them replace the sales tax with? Or, are you going to start paying directly for fixing the potholes in the roads that lead to your business?

And, all you folks crying about how you will stop shopping at Amazon when this goes into effect – you obviously don’t ever buy things that aren’t just sitting around in a local store. I can’t buy any of the music I like in a b&m store. I can only find about half the books I want in a b&m store. I can’t get computer parts at all in a b&m store, any more. I don’t want to drive all over town looking for who has that washing machine part so I can fix it myself. I can’t download movies from a b&m store (that I know of). I will continue to shop online because it is convenient for a lot of things.

Up until now, online sales tax bills have had a powerful opponent in Amazon, with the popular online retailer playing defense against efforts by powerful brick-and-mortar lobbyists working to get bigger government to handicap its new competitor.

No, they weren’t working to “handicap” their competitor. They were working to have it play on the same field as them. I love your work, MKH, but conservative fetishization of “no internet sales tax” has got to end if we truly mean what we say when we talk about level playing fields.

Charge the tax at the point of distribution (the shipping point). This makes it equivalent to the b&m stores (where you pay the tax at the cash register, regardless of where you live), lines up with the “physical presence” requirement already there, and solves a bunch of issues for the mom&pop internet stores.

As for “interstate commerce”, I still pay the tax at the point of sale in a b&m store, even if I then have them ship it to my house in another state. This is not really that hard, requires little new regulation (might actually reduce the regulation already in place), makes sense, makes it “fair”… where’s the con to these pros?

first – they could solve the problem really quick, treat the sale like any other sale, sales tax is levied at the point of sale, if the online store is located in Texas charge Texas sales tax, if the online store is located in Oregon charge Oregon sales tax

second – wait till they really want to level the playing field between online and brick and mortar stores.

RonK on August 2, 2012 at 5:09 PM

States can’t do that as it is considered interstate commerce, just as it has been since catalogs were the rage in the late 1800s. What states can, and have been, doing is imposing what is properly described as a one-time property tax on the value of goods purchased from an out-of-state good that just so happens to equal the sales tax of that good sold in-state. Of course, enforcement is “fungible”.

Prediction – if this flies, look for the ‘Rats and Huge-Government “Republicans” to agitate for the larger of the sales tax rate in the seller’s locale or the buyer’s locale to be applied to be applied to interstate purchases.

Steve Eggleston on August 2, 2012 at 5:22 PM

that’s the reason it is being done at the FEDERAL level, they could just as easily give the taxes to the original state, congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce.

KOOLAID2 on August 2, 2012 at 3:11 PM

Only she can save us now. Bishop is gone fishing.

SparkPlug on August 2, 2012 at 3:38 PM

sorry that I didn’t see this until now. I was busy working in the produce department @ you know…Walmart.

Ok, no problem. I’ll start not buying now.

We live in Texas and since Amazon made a deal with the state to collect sales tax, we have stopped shopping Amazon. The only advantage they is gone.

johnny reb on August 2, 2012 at 4:45 PM

Hit the wrong button.

There are still oddball things that I can get at Amazon that I can’t get here locally, but for the most part, yeah, the party is over.

We live in Texas and since Amazon made a deal with the state to collect sales tax, we have stopped shopping Amazon. The only advantage they is gone.

johnny reb on August 2, 2012 at 4:45 PM

There are still oddball things that I can get at Amazon that I can’t get here locally, but for the most part the party is over.

Why does everyone here – on a conservative site! – assume that the best (or only) way to “level the playing field” is to increase taxes?If in-state store are put at a disadvantage, why not “level the playing field” by lowering or eliminating sales taxes?

US Constitution Section 9 Clause 5
NO Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

Given that so many of these companies are run/owned by libs, there is no reason for the GOP not to completely dissociate itself from the moniker of ‘the party of big business’. They donate to the other side, and these sort of tactics are unamerican (i.e., contrary to this country’s founding principles). They are not worth being associated with or showing any love to.

We live in Texas and since Amazon made a deal with the state to collect sales tax, we have stopped shopping Amazon. The only advantage they is gone.

johnny reb on August 2, 2012 at 4:45 PM

Same here.

I’m not sure what you two mean, but the way you make something and stand for something, then leave it to invariably go sideways at some point, is kinda sad. It’s not the dying. It’s what they do with what you built. :)

Axe on August 2, 2012 at 4:28 PM

Sorry, busy day and I can only get to the computer sporatically.

That’s what I meant. The corporate culture at Walmart changed dramatically once Sam was gone.

first – they could solve the problem really quick, treat the sale like any other sale, sales tax is levied at the point of sale, if the online store is located in Texas charge Texas sales tax, if the online store is located in Oregon charge Oregon sales tax

second – wait till they really want to level the playing field between online and brick and mortar stores.

RonK on August 2, 2012 at 5:09 PM

States can’t do that as it is considered interstate commerce, just as it has been since catalogs were the rage in the late 1800s. What states can, and have been, doing is imposing what is properly described as a one-time property tax on the value of goods purchased from an out-of-state good that just so happens to equal the sales tax of that good sold in-state. Of course, enforcement is “fungible”.

Prediction – if this flies, look for the ‘Rats and Huge-Government “Republicans” to agitate for the larger of the sales tax rate in the seller’s locale or the buyer’s locale to be applied to be applied to interstate purchases.

I don’t understand why Wmrt & Amz are playing footsie on this?
Wmrt is everywhere so most customers already pay a tax whenever they buy online from them.
Whereas Amz isn’t in every state and few customers are required to pay a tax….

kregg on August 2, 2012 at 5:05 PM

You missed the first excerpt MKH included. Also, an increasing number of states count Amazon affiliates as a “physical presence”, which up until now was answered by Amazon dropping all the affiliates in the states that did that.

It’s the same reason why GM basically wrote the emission control laws that went into effect in 1975, and when Honda figured out how to meet it without the GM-designed catalytic converter, had that “tweaked” to require catalytic converters.

second – wait till they really want to level the playing field between online and brick and mortar stores.

I believe it would actually be more benificial for brick and mortar’s if online establishments were taxed.

Regardless, the States are the ones that have dropped the ball on this. Few states are collecting taxes for online sales. Instore inventories and selections have been falling pretty much in step was online sales rise.
To think that the federal government should add to inflation by giving them another avenue to tax it’s citizens is proposterous. I’m loving this country less & less every day.