Do your shopping now, Tax-free Internet shopping is about to go away.

[cubby1223]

I disagree, it is a MASSIVE pain in the butt to keep track of all online purchases through the year. Geez I must buy from about 30 or more different websites through the year, some take out taxes some do not. Tracking that would take much of the convenience out of online shopping. If we are going to be taxed, take it out automatically, don't saddle the consumer with it.

Bingo. If the tax is going to be collected by force, then it will be an expense whether the enforcement is on the business side or the consumer side. The expense to collect on the business side will be cheaper than the cumulative expense amongst all consumers if done on the consumer side.

 

[Blain]

I disagree, it is a MASSIVE pain in the butt to keep track of all online purchases through the year.

Here's how I keep track...
* When viewing my final order page, I hit "Print Screen" button.
* I then open my image editor (I use Irfanview), and paste the screen shot.
* I name and save the screen shot with the dollar amount first, vendor and a short description of the item purchased.
* I save the screen shots in a folder named "Archive 2013" (changes depending on the year).
* At the end of the year I simply add up the totals that begin the file names and multiply by my states use tax rate.

Some vendors do take out sales tax on the order, so I name those screen shots with the vendors name and a short description of the item purchased.
Saving screen shots takes hardly any time.
Besides keeping track of my out of state purchases, I have all my orders in a single place.

Does my record keeping method qualify as a "MASSIVE pain in the butt"?

 

[bshole]

You assume that I order everything from one computer. When I am out of town, I order off the hotel's computer. Sometimes I order off a work computer or laptop, sometimes I order off my parent's computer, sometimes I order off a tablet, etc... The whole point of on-line shopping is convenience, I do wherever I want, whenever I want, on whatever device I have handy to get on the internet. Hell I have ordered a printer off a computer at Best Buy.

I am glad that your method works for you. Frankly, I am WHOLE lot lazier than you.

By the way, if I am buying from an online store in California, why in the heck would I owe Wisconsin sales tax?

 

[Brainonska511]

By the way, if I am buying from an online store in California, why in the heck would I owe Wisconsin sales tax?

Sales tax is due in the place you, the buyer, live. The store's location is irrelevant.

As for your record keeping dilema - you could make a spreadsheet saved to GoogleDrive or any number of other ways.... I don't think the taxman would buy the excuse of laziness. I also don't believe it is the smartest thing to be stating online, in writing, that you fail to pay sales or use taxes. I don't think anything bad would come of it, but who knows...

 

[bshole]

Sales tax is due in the place you, the buyer, live. The store's location is irrelevant.

So what if I travel to Illinois and order something from Michigan but my residence is in Wisconsin. No part of the transcation occured in Wisconsin. How can it be legal for Wisconsin to get a sales tax out of that? Has this been to the Supreme Court yet? I can not see how Wisconsin getting any part of that transaction is any way constitutional.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

So what if I travel to Illinois and order something from Michigan but my residence is in Wisconsin. No part of the transcation occured in Wisconsin. How can it be legal for Wisconsin to get a sales tax out of that? Has this been to the Supreme Court yet? I can not see how Wisconsin getting any part of that transaction is any way constitutional.

Do you frequently find yourself traveling outside your home state to receive goods from a third state? If so, I'm sure you can afford a tax attorney to help you sort all that out. But the term you're looking for is "use tax," essentially paying tax on out-of-state purchases that are intended to be used within your state but were exempt from sales tax at the time of purchase. When you bring a third state into the mix, it gets confusing. Fortunately, almost no one in the country does that.

 

[BoomerD]

So what if I travel to Illinois and order something from Michigan but my residence is in Wisconsin. No part of the transcation occured in Wisconsin. How can it be legal for Wisconsin to get a sales tax out of that? Has this been to the Supreme Court yet? I can not see how Wisconsin getting any part of that transaction is any way constitutional.

To test out your query...Drive to Illinois or Minnesota. Purchase a new (or used) vehicle...take it back to Wisconsin and tell the DMV that you don't owe them anything because you purchased the car in a different state.
Hell, if it's used and came with a license plate...you shouldn't even have to register it in Wisconsin...right?

 

[bshole]

Do you frequently find yourself traveling outside your home state to receive goods from a third state? If so, I'm sure you can afford a tax attorney to help you sort all that out. But the term you're looking for is "use tax," essentially paying tax on out-of-state purchases that are intended to be used within your state but were exempt from sales tax at the time of purchase. When you bring a third state into the mix, it gets confusing. Fortunately, almost no one in the country does that.

I do it ALL the time. I run down to Illinois to buy chewing tobacco to avoid the outrageous taxes in my state (I live in Wisconsin). I do PAY sales tax in Illinois but it is several dollars less PER TIN than the tax I pay in Wisonsin. Am I expected to pay sales tax in TWO different states? How can that be constitutional? Am I breaking the law? If I bought the tobacco in Wisconsin, it would cost me an extra $500-$1000/yr for my habit.

 

[SP33Demon]

I'm sure the folks bitching about "being forced to pay taxes" would scream if they had to pay a toll every time they drove on a roadway paid for by a government agency, had to pay the police or fire department IN CASH before they received such services, and had to pay a "military protection fee" every year...not to mention the myriad of other government services we get "for free" because we pay taxes.

I hate paying taxes as well...but see them as a necessary evil.

Yet somehow 5 states manage just fine without sales tax. I agree with you on federal taxes, but this new bill is a state sales tax issue and as a result it's BS. Let states decide on their own whether they want to participate.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I do it ALL the time. I run down to Illinois to buy chewing tobacco to avoid the outrageous taxes in my state (I live in Wisconsin). I do PAY sales tax in Illinois but it is several dollars less PER TIN than the tax I pay in Wisonsin. Am I expected to pay sales tax in TWO different states? How can that be constitutional? Am I breaking the law? If I bought the tobacco in Wisconsin, it would cost me an extra $500-$1000/yr for my habit.

That's completely different from your example. You said drive to another state and then engage in a transaction with a third state. Now it's simply driving across the border to take advantage of lower taxes. And, depending on how Wisconsin does things, you're probably supposed to pay a use tax in Wisconsin on goods purchased outside of the state for the purpose of consumption within the state. Clearly you haven't been, but that doesn't mean you aren't supposed to in the eyes of the law.

You may want to read this.

 

[BoomerD]

Yet somehow 5 states manage just fine without sales tax. I agree with you on federal taxes, but this new bill is a state sales tax issue and as a result it's BS. Let states decide on their own whether they want to participate.

Many of those state that don't have sales taxes manage to rape you in other ways...like higher property taxes and higher fees for every-fucking-thing.

A good example is Oregon. Lots of folks brag that Oregon doesn't have sales taxes...but they get you other ways:

Oregon's State and Local Tax Burden In Line with National Average

Oregon's 2010 tax burden of 9.96% ranks 16th highest out of 50 states, and is above the national average of 9.9%. Oregon's taxpayers pay $3729 per capita in state and local taxes.

http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/oregon

 

[bshole]

Atomic,

And we are just supposed to know all this crap? Unbelievable. So I broke the law and I never even knew it. Why the hell can't they just take their stupid tax out when we buy the damn stuff? Why do they have to make our lives so stinking complicated?

Well I guess that ends my trips to Illinois, I get the privilege of paying full freight for my tobacco. I find it quite ironic that the majority of the cost of tobacco is TAX. It is getting completely out of hand.

 

[Brainonska511]

Atomic,

And we are just supposed to know all this crap? Unbelievable. So I broke the law and I never even knew it. Why the hell can't they just take their stupid tax out when we buy the damn stuff? Why do they have to make our lives so stinking complicated?

Well I guess that ends my trips to Illinois, I get the privilege of paying full freight for my tobacco. I find it quite ironic that the majority of the cost of tobacco is TAX. It is getting completely out of hand.

You thought it would be legal to go to another state to buy a product to make an end-run around your own state's taxes?

 

[JEDIYoda]

I live in Oregon. No sales tax. Haha!

You said that you live in an organ? What organ might that be?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Everyone arguing for the tax in different ways. Not many, if any of you are against the tax altogether. Sad when we've become so accustomed to it that we merely squabble over how its to be collected

 

[Brainonska511]

Everyone arguing for the tax in different ways. Not many, if any of you are against the tax altogether. Sad when we've become so accustomed to it that we merely squabble over how its to be collected

Taxes are the price of society. If you don't like taxes, you're free to leave. There are plenty of countries you can go to where you don't have to see the government, ever.

 

[RightIsWrong]

I live in a state without sales tax, so all of this is completely irrelevant to me. But from an outside perspective, those taxes are still due to the state, you're just failing to pay them at the end of the year as the law says you should. A business collecting sales tax is simply making life easier for you, as you don't need to keep track of every purchase made for an entire year. So while I understand a personal desire to not have to pay the sales tax, in the end, it's just helping to enforce laws that already exist within your jurisdiction.

What state doesn't have a sales tax?

Edit: nevermind....found my answer:

Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire and Delaware have no sales taxes, though the two senators from Delaware support the bill.

 

[Orsorum]

I do it ALL the time. I run down to Illinois to buy chewing tobacco to avoid the outrageous taxes in my state (I live in Wisconsin). I do PAY sales tax in Illinois but it is several dollars less PER TIN than the tax I pay in Wisonsin. Am I expected to pay sales tax in TWO different states? How can that be constitutional? Am I breaking the law? If I bought the tobacco in Wisconsin, it would cost me an extra $500-$1000/yr for my habit.

Generally, you get credit for the sales tax already paid to another jurisdiction.

 

[Orsorum]

Everyone arguing for the tax in different ways. Not many, if any of you are against the tax altogether. Sad when we've become so accustomed to it that we merely squabble over how its to be collected

As a practicing state and local tax consultant, I am firmly opposed to overturning Quill, mostly on the basis of equity to the merchant. If states want to beef up their use tax enforcement efforts and/or ask merchants to report consumer data (as Colorado has done, although I think the constitutionality is still being debated), then they're welcome to try and figure that out.

 

[Orsorum]

You thought it would be legal to go to another state to buy a product to make an end-run around your own state's taxes?

Funny how many people think that.

But, the classic example is people that live and work in Vancouver, Washington (no income tax) and commute to Portland, Oregon to buy everything for their life. IIRC the Costco in Jantzen Beach is the highest grossing location in the world.

Yes, they're committing a crime (for Washington state purposes) by doing so (assuming they are not reporting Washington state use tax on their purchases).

 

[NoStateofMind]

Taxes are the price of society. If you don't like taxes, you're free to leave. There are plenty of countries you can go to where you don't have to see the government, ever.

I'm sure you would have told Rosa Parks to leave too. She didn't like racism very much but she stood her ground. Was she wrong? Should she have gone to another country because of abuse?

This is an example of how stupid your statement is. You can say "Don't like it leave" on any subject that you have no rational argument against. That didn't stop women from trying to vote or MLK pushing for equality or even Obama from pushing for his health care reform. Under your argument they should have just left....

 

[Brainonska511]

I'm sure you would have told Rosa Parks to leave too. She didn't like racism very much but she stood her ground. Was she wrong? Should she have gone to another country because of abuse?

This is an example of how stupid your statement is. You can say "Don't like it leave" on any subject that you have no rational argument against. That didn't stop women from trying to vote or MLK pushing for equality or even Obama from pushing for his health care reform. Under your argument they should have just left....

Yep. Taxes and institutionalized racism and inequality are the same thing.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Yep. Taxes and institutionalized racism and inequality are the same thing.

Your assertion that "if you don't like it you can leave" is the same. Not surprised you couldn't figure that out. You weren't taught to think.

 

[Staples]

Yet somehow 5 states manage just fine without sales tax. I agree with you on federal taxes, but this new bill is a state sales tax issue and as a result it's BS. Let states decide on their own whether they want to participate.

You seriously don't think the roads build themselves do you?

There are lots of other taxes the state can levy besides sales tax and they do in those states. In other words, they all get their tax one way or the other.

 

[desura]

While I definitely think that the sales tax exemption for internet sales is grossly unfair and ultimately is a jobs killer...

I wonder how in the world this is going to be enforced. If you have a small business selling to all 50 states, it is going to be kind of a pain to contact all of the tax offices of all 50 states (and what about city taxes?), or if you get hit by an audit from like Rhode Island when you live in Nevada.

A national sales tax would be simpler and make more sense.