Sales tax is how most local jurisdictions pay for things. State, county, or in my case, Parish. Local stores, who we all profess to wanting to support, have to charge and collect this tax. It has been an unfair advantage to online sellers that they did not have to charge and collect sales tax. By the way, you were supposed to be paying it anyway with your state income tax return, at least in most states.

I don’t like taxes any more than the next guy, but if you live somewhere that has a sales tax, then you should pay it even when buying online. So stop bitching about it.

Shouldn't this be in the Bitching section?

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Shouldn't this be in the Bitching section?

Well, I’m not bitching per se; rather asking others not to bitch. You could argue that I am indeed bitching, about bitching, but I’d classify it as a caution to not bitch.

Sales tax, is having retailers pay everyone’s tax bill, with a fig leaf of equity.

I bitch about all taxes and am not likely to stop any time soon - so thanks, but no thanks!

I will be happy to pay any kind of taxes when the government stop wasting and redistributing my money... Until then, fuck taxes.

Work diligently to not have to pay as many taxes as possible, at all times, and always complain, forever.

If it isn't a road, library, or something outrageously necessary, I don't care at all.

quote:

I will be happy to pay any kind of taxes when the government stop wasting and redistributing my money... Until then, fuck taxes.

Then you should support this gripe 100%. When those who tax see decreased revenue they will seek to make it up with new and/or improved taxes. You'll then find that the old taxes never went away, and now you're permanently stuck paying both.

An important note...

Retailers do not charge sales tax.

I repeat, retailers do not charge sales tax.


Retailers collect sales taxes for the government.

It is not a voluntary activity for them. If they want to be in the business of retail sales, and the government assesses sales taxes on goods and services, the retailer is legally obligated to collect the sale tax on those goods and services. They then forward those tax revenues to the .gov, often getting next to nothing out of the transaction (i.e., all the tax collected is the tax paid to the .gov).

But what about online sales?

The law, at least in the Commonwealth of Virginia, has long held that purchases from out of state vendors who do not collect sales taxes themselves, mean the purchaser must declare those purchases on their income tax and pay the sales tax to Virginia.

Not declaring these purchases and paying the sales taxes means you are illegally avoiding the taxes, and if caught (rare I admit) doing so can bring all kinds of .gov misery into your life.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

Then you should support this gripe 100%. When those who tax see decreased revenue they will seek to make it up with new and/or improved taxes. You'll then find that the old taxes never went away, and now you're permanently stuck paying both.

They will always try to do that anyway regardless of what happen as it will never be enough... Look at the state of our national debt

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
Sales tax is how most local jurisdictions pay for things. State, county, or in my case, Parish. Local stores, who we all profess to wanting to support, have to charge and collect this tax. It has been an unfair advantage to online sellers that they did not have to charge and collect sales tax. By the way, you were supposed to be paying it anyway with your state income tax return, at least in most states.

I don’t like taxes any more than the next guy, but if you live somewhere that has a sales tax, then you should pay it even when buying online. So stop bitching about it.

I think some of you are missing the point. I bitch about taxes all the time. The point of my post is that online retailers should not have an advantage over local retailers. IF there are sales taxes, online retailers should have to collect those taxes as well.

I’m as good as anyone at bitching about taxes. Taxes are too high! Government takes a huge chunk in income tax. Then with what you have left, you pay property taxes, sales taxes, all kinds of taxes and fees on your phone, cable, internet, utilities, gasoline, alcohol- all kinds of taxes you don’t clearly see. It’s overbearing.

Sales taxes should not have to be increased. With sales tax, government collects a percentage of sales. Over time those sales amounts grow with inflation and a growing economy, so the percentage should not have to be increased. Yet they want to collect a larger percentage. Between state and parish taxes here, the sales tax burden is currently 9.95%. Forty years ago I think it was 6%. If anything, the percentage should be lowered, as the development and use of computers has made government offices much more efficient. One clerk with a computer can do the work of twenty people before computers.

With property taxes they always come up with some “temporary” increase to cover some specific need. “This will only cost the average homeowner $8/month for 5 years, and then it goes away”. Then 5 years later it’s up for renewal, and they say “this is not a new tax- it’s just a continuation of what you’re already paying”. I hate those MFers.

BUT, if your local store has to collect tax, the online guys should too.

That's not how consumers look at this. If sales tax had been collected on internet sales from the beginnings of online commerce, the attitudes of buyers would be different than it is now. We had a very long period - close to two decades- of making purchases online, free of sales tax and over the past three or four years, this luxury has disappeared. It is unreasonable to expect consumers to not balk at this, and it is the very rare consumer who places the needs of the vendor first. Buyers aren't going to say "I want to be charged sales tax for online purchases because not doing so is unfair to local retailers."

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
But what about online sales?

The law, at least in the Commonwealth of Virginia, has long held that purchases from out of state vendors who do not collect sales taxes themselves, mean the purchaser must declare those purchases on their income tax and pay the sales tax to Virginia.

Not declaring these purchases and paying the sales taxes means you are illegally avoiding the taxes, and if caught (rare I admit) doing so can bring all kinds of .gov misery into your life.

The above holds true in Michigan, as well. I know, because I asked.

I also asked "Does anybody actually ever declare those taxes owed?" and the woman replied "You'd be surprised."

I was.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
But what about online sales?

The law, at least in the Commonwealth of Virginia, has long held that purchases from out of state vendors who do not collect sales taxes themselves, mean the purchaser must declare those purchases on their income tax and pay the sales tax to Virginia.

Not declaring these purchases and paying the sales taxes means you are illegally avoiding the taxes, and if caught (rare I admit) doing so can bring all kinds of .gov misery into your life.

The above holds true in Michigan, as well. I know, because I asked.

I also asked "Does anybody actually ever declare those taxes owed?" and the woman replied "You'd be surprised."

I was.

Yep, turns out a bunch of us have been cheating on our taxes for years, mainly through ignorance, but ignorance of the law is no excuse.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
Yep, turns out a bunch of us have been cheating on our taxes for years, mainly through ignorance, but ignorance of the law is no excuse.

It is far more serious than "underpaying your taxes" (a civil matter). When you sign your tax return, you are swearing that it is true and complete. If this is not so, you have committed perjury, a felony that, if convicted of, will preclude any possibility of the purchase of a firearm, including private purchases in a growing number of States that mandate universal background checks.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
That's not how consumers look at this. If sales tax had been collected on internet sales from the beginnings of online commerce, the attitudes of buyers would be different than it is now. We had a very long period - close to two decades- of making purchases online, free of sales tax and over the past three or four years, this luxury has disappeared. It is unreasonable to expect consumers to not balk at this, and it is the very rare consumer who places the needs of the vendor first. Buyers aren't going to say "I want to be charged sales tax for online purchases because not doing so is unfair to local retailers."

I agree with you and understand that people don’t like the change. As a consumer, I don’t like the change. But as you pointed out, we have had the luxury of not paying taxes on online purchases. It doesn’t make since to be mad at online retailers for now collecting taxes. What prompted this post was a comment by someone to the effect of “I don’t buy from XYZ since they started charging tax”. I’m just saying it’s time to get over it.

To your last point, the vast majority of people have no loyalty or motivation past the bottom line. But I certainly have seen people say “I’d rather support the local shop, even if it costs a few dollars more”. Although I suppose paying your local retailer a few dollars more feels different when those few dollars are going to the government.

I shouldn't have to pay any sales tax on used goods from anyone. AZ doesn't even charge sales tax on private party vehicle sales. Why should they be able to collect sales tax on a 30 yr old guitar I buy on eBay? I will try to avoid paying any dime of gov't. extortion I can. When they stop wasting my money and treat everyone equally, then we can talk.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
It is far more serious than "underpaying your taxes" (a civil matter). When you sign your tax return, you are swearing that it is true and complete. If this is not so, you have committed perjury, a felony that, if convicted of, will preclude any possibility of the purchase of a firearm, including private purchases in a growing number of States that mandate universal background checks.