Internet Sales Tax Bill Gains Ground in Senate

when will Washington realize it has a spending problem rather than a revenue problem?

sexyweapons

Probably when you realize that this isn't a federal tax, but rather a bill making it easier for states to collect taxes on online purchases.

[QUOTE="--Anna--"]lol. that's total BS. local offline small businesses already have to pay outrageous taxes, genius.buccomatic

The good thing about this legislation is that it can rationally put an option on the table for reducing those taxes, given the revenue from online sales tax would make up for the difference in taxes. This is an argument you would hear from birck-and-mortar stores in support of this policy. Essentially, it puts some pressure off local offline businesses to foot the commerce bill the government demands by spreading the weight over to online retailers.

GET YOUR QUOTE RIGHT.... OR DON'T EVEN BOTHER TO POST!  DA.

[QUOTE="sexyweapons"]

when will Washington realize it has a spending problem rather than a revenue problem?

worlock77

Probably when you realize that this isn't a federal tax, but rather a bill making it easier for states to collect taxes on online purchases.

[QUOTE="buccomatic"][QUOTE="--Anna--"]

The good thing about this legislation is that it can rationally put an option on the table for reducing those taxes, given the revenue from online sales tax would make up for the difference in taxes. This is an argument you would hear from birck-and-mortar stores in support of this policy. Essentially, it puts some pressure off local offline businesses to foot the commerce bill the government demands by spreading the weight over to online retailers.

--Anna--

GET YOUR QUOTE RIGHT.... OR DON'T EVEN BOTHER TO POST!  DA.

Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.Laihendi

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.OrkHammer007

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

If an online retailer has to hire a seperate person to code an extra drop down box then I have to wonder how terrible their webmaster is and how they manage to stay in business.

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.OrkHammer007

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

[QUOTE="OrkHammer007"]

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.worlock77

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

If an online retailer has to hire a seperate person to code an extra drop down box then I have to wonder how terrible their webmaster is and how they manage to stay in business.

[QUOTE="worlock77"]

[QUOTE="OrkHammer007"]Brick-and-mortar stores are becoming/have become obsolete in many cases because the space isn't there for the kind of inventory that could compete with online shopping.

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

OrkHammer007

If an online retailer has to hire a seperate person to code an extra drop down box then I have to wonder how terrible their webmaster is and how they manage to stay in business.

I'm saying that the adding of drop boxes itself should be a fairly simple task for whoever's already coding their website. As far as everything else most websites ship internationally, so they already deal with that sort of thing. It's doubtful that it would be much of a transitition for most online retailers.

I guess not all Republicans are against tax increases.

jimkabrhel

[QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]That is an idiotic bill and a perfect example of the government being a destroyer rather than a creator. The government does not "level the playing field" by raising people up so they can compete with the best; it tears down the best with restrictive regulations so that any incompetent can compete with it. Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete. Now the government wants to restrict online retail to keep the obsolete stores in business, despite a clear trend among consumers of a growing preference for online shopping. The government destroys entire industries before they even happen just so that some hick "mom-and-pop" store will stay in business despite not being any good. Anyone who supports this bill is a looter, a killer, and scum.Laihendi

:roll:

Your rhetoric has become rathen lately... killer?

Anyway, In some ways I like brick-and-mortar stores better than online shopping.

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.OrkHammer007

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

What isn't fair is that the business isn't using the local infrastructure to do their business. Imagine you hire someone from a neighboring city to come and work on your house and they charge you their city's taxes even though you don't live there and aren't shopping there. What's fair about that? Obviously something needs to be done, but to call this fair is dishonest.guynamedbilly

[QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

I guess not all Republicans are against tax increases.

mattbbpl

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.OrkHammer007

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

[QUOTE="mattbbpl"][QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

I guess not all Republicans are against tax increases.

buccomatic

[QUOTE="OrkHammer007"]

[QUOTE="Laihendi"]Online retail is only a threat to brick-and-mortar stores because brick-and-mortar stores are becoming obsolete.whipassmt

Example: Walk into a retail store right now and look at their PC game selection. If you get over 50 titles, I'll be impressed.

Go to any online retailer or digital distribution store. It's increasingly rare if you can't find a title you want there.

There are still some types of inventory you should still expect to see in physical stores. I doubt you'll order your groceries online when it's much more efficient to buy it at a supermarket, for example. Also, trying on shoes would be difficult over a PC monitor or smartphone/tablet screen.

So no... it's not about "tearing down one sector to build up another." It's about moving the sales tax collection on transactions from where it's drifting away from (stores) to where it is (online).

I still hope this dies in the House, though. It'll jack the prices up not only because of the taxes, but because these online companies will need to hire people to file the paperwork, decode the taxes for each state, code the drop-down boxes on their onlne storefronts, etc., etc... all of which will add overhead, and get passed on to the consumers.

[QUOTE="guynamedbilly"]What isn't fair is that the business isn't using the local infrastructure to do their business. Imagine you hire someone from a neighboring city to come and work on your house and they charge you their city's taxes even though you don't live there and aren't shopping there. What's fair about that? Obviously something needs to be done, but to call this fair is dishonest.whipassmt

Several posts about a typo I didn't see fast enough to fix before it was quote. FFS.

[QUOTE="sonicare"]

Well, truth be told, if you are going to tax some businesses and not others, it is a little unfair.

famicommander

Agreed.  Government needs to get smaller and use less money.  

Several posts about a typo I didn't see fast enough to fix before it was quote. FFS.

jimkabrhel

[QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

Several posts about a typo I didn't see fast enough to fix before it was quote. FFS.

whipassmt

The word was "rather" and I meant to include "violent and antagonistic" after it, but I had a busy day and I typed that post too fast.

So American citizens don't get to vote on this?!Capitan_Kid

Citizen elect officials to Congress, and then Congress ignores the public who voted for them.

See the support for background checks on guns as another example.

I always assumed this already existed.

seemed like common sense tbh.

Bad idea is bad.  States need to live off of what they have.  When they get more money from this sales tax they will continue their spending sprees and be in the same exact position as they were before it, but now they will have higher revenues as well as higher expenditures.  

Not a fan of consumption taxes (except as a revenue-generating way to discourage the trade of certain goods) but I find it hard to believe that this of all things could garner a "THE GOVERNMENT IS CRUSHING US UNDER ITS MIGHTY COMMUNIST WEIGHT" reaction.

You can't have too many taxes!

flazzle

This, the amount of saturday nights I have spent queueing in the rain because of lack of drivers is horrendous.

Great! Let's encourage even more businesses to leave the country.  Lovely idea.  

So American citizens don't get to vote on this?!Capitan_Kid

People really need to start understanding what "representative democracy" means.

So how does this work exactly. Currently I'm charged my local sales tax on all items I purchase on Amazon, or online purchases on PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, or Nintendo's eShop. Though I know this isn't always the case for every location. The article states this does nothing to raise federal revenues, but to assist states into collecting them. So does this tax basically just help states that don't require online retail to pay local sales tax? If that's the case, I really don't see anything wrong with it.lamprey263

It's not a new tax. It's a bill to make it easier for states to collect sales taxes on online purchases. Not sure how many times that has to be stated.

Great! Let's encourage even more businesses to leave the country.  Lovely idea.  

junglist101

Right, these business are really going to relocate overseas because of a sales tax.

Oh yay...

[QUOTE="lamprey263"]So how does this work exactly. Currently I'm charged my local sales tax on all items I purchase on Amazon, or online purchases on PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, or Nintendo's eShop. Though I know this isn't always the case for every location. The article states this does nothing to raise federal revenues, but to assist states into collecting them. So does this tax basically just help states that don't require online retail to pay local sales tax? If that's the case, I really don't see anything wrong with it.worlock77

It's not a new tax. It's a bill to make it easier for states to collect sales taxes on online purchases. Not sure how many times that has to be stated.

[QUOTE="lamprey263"]So how does this work exactly. Currently I'm charged my local sales tax on all items I purchase on Amazon, or online purchases on PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, or Nintendo's eShop. Though I know this isn't always the case for every location. The article states this does nothing to raise federal revenues, but to assist states into collecting them. So does this tax basically just help states that don't require online retail to pay local sales tax? If that's the case, I really don't see anything wrong with it.worlock77

It's not a new tax. It's a bill to make it easier for states to collect sales taxes on online purchases. Not sure how many times that has to be stated.

[QUOTE="sexyweapons"]

when will Washington realize it has a spending problem rather than a revenue problem?

worlock77

Probably when you realize that this isn't a federal tax, but rather a bill making it easier for states to collect taxes on online purchases.

[QUOTE="Capitan_Kid"]So American citizens don't get to vote on this?!worlock77

People really need to start understanding what "representative democracy" means.

Oh well, it was bound to happen eventually. At least I'll still get the benefit of saving money on gas by buying certain things online.

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

Several posts about a typo I didn't see fast enough to fix before it was quote. FFS.

jimkabrhel

The word was "rather" and I meant to include "violent and antagonistic" after it, but I had a busy day and I typed that post too fast.