http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10220649-38.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0Imagine having a small online business and having to worry about charging the right sales tax and being audited by 38 different states. I swear, there is nothing our overlords haven't thought of when it comes to kicking the economy when it is down.
Taxes are generally collected as a percentage of revenues or sales. So when revenues and/or sales go down, it makes sense that government revenues go down. Tough titty...the rest of the "real" world is having a hard time too! But instead of accepting declining revenues (OMG) we need to raise taxes so that the hard-hit citizens and online businesses can pay even more taxes while they try to survive.
"Congress is now free to decide whether, when, and to what extent the States may burden interstate mail order concerns with a duty to collect use taxes."
Under existing law, the caveat is that online purchases from sites like Amazon and eBay only seem to arrive tax-free. Legally, however, purchasers are required to pay their own state's sales tax rate--the concept is called a "use tax"--and then voluntarily report the amount owed at tax time.
California residents, for instance, are now burdened with a sales and use tax of at least 8.25 percent. State law is strict: if Californians travel to a state with a 5 percent tax and shop there, the law requires them to cough up the 3.25 percent difference when they return. Online purchases are taxed as well.
yeah, good luck with that.
California's Board of Equalization estimates the state lost $1.34 billion in 2003 because residents aren't paying use taxes--and attributes $208 million of that to online purchases.
I think it's funny how they put it, that Kali "lost" 1.34 billion of "its" tax money.