NY State To Enforce Sales Tax on the Net?

[sdelmonte]

As part of an effort to raise revenue, New York State has given Internet retailers five weeks to start collecting sales tax.

I'm of two minds about this. I think that if there is a sales tax, is should be applied to all sales. And certainly brick and mortar merchants are right in feeling that they can't really compete. But sales taxes are regressive, and the growth of "e-tail sales" has occurred in part due to the lack of sales tax being charged on many (though not all) sites.

I wonder if this will actually come to pass, or if, after a decade of being able to shop online, many of use are so used to to it that we won't mind the tax.

Comments

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

"I have to pay tax, and Amazon should pay tax, it's as simple as that," he says.

Not at all. This gentleman is using the services paid for by the taxes, and electing the politicians who impose them. Neither of those is the case for Amazon, unless they have one of their warehouses in the jurisdiction (in which case they already have to pay sales tax).

[osewalrus.livejournal.com]

Legally, this can only apply to sales by NY based businesses to NY residents. It is no different than sales by mail order or sales by telephone. The constitution absolutely prohibits states from imposng taxes or duties on items shipped in interstate commerce.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I think in Massachusetts there's some law that requires us to declare how much money we spent on Internet retailers, and then to pay a percentage of that as sales tax on our state tax return.

[hms42]

I know I will be cutting down my mail ordering from Amazon (or arranging it to arrive in NJ with family/friends.)

As for NYS, they have in the tax code (if this remains, should hopefully be removed), a voluntary surrender of taxes for interstate purchases. I make sure to pay whatever it claims I owe since I normally will do about that much in internet purchases a year. Its been about $20 the past few years and it was down from $27 (the first year I knew about it and made sure to pay it.)

I wonder how long it will take to get a lawsuit and this tax charge on hold.

I am planning on mail ordering the parts for my next desktop, but the sales tax may cut into what I purchase. (@ 8.625%, it adds up quickly.)