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States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

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Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#491
post #258

What no one is talking about here is how this would be handled, especially for a small online sellers. There are almost 10,000 tax jurisdictions ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/mccon... ) and you're not allowed to collect sales tax unless you register for that jurisdiction. There is also a fee collected by most jurisdictions to register and most make you send in periodic reports, even if you…

There is a threshold in the South Dakota bill for $100k in sales in the state. Small online sellers are not affected

100k or 200 transactions... that 200 bar is pretty easy to hit w/ monthly subscription SaaS providers.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#492
post #258

What no one is talking about here is how this would be handled, especially for a small online sellers. There are almost 10,000 tax jurisdictions ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/mccon... ) and you're not allowed to collect sales tax unless you register for that jurisdiction. There is also a fee collected by most jurisdictions to register and most make you send in periodic reports, even if you…

> What no one is talking about here is how this would be handled, especially for a small online sellers. Strange huh? Seems like the little guy is being attacked by the elites in every manner possible. Whether it is small online sellers, small time youtubers, independent freelance journalists, small time artists, writers, etc, seems like the rules are being changed to favor corporations and the heavy hitters. Heck, e…

> You'd think something this important would be all over hacker news and social media

It's the top story on... Hacker News.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#493
post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And unless you are extremely familiar with local tax law you have no idea which purchases are even going to be taxed. If you go to the grocery store and buy the following: tampons raw chicken rotisserie chicken prepared sandwich bread and cold cuts toilet paper condoms 20 oz soda 12 pack soda juice milk prepackaged donuts donuts from the bakery cat food beer DO you know which of those items are going to be taxed and…

You just use tax software to do it. Then you can just classify each item. Most small businesses only sell a few thousand products and others sell less than a hundred. How does it take to classify all of those? A few hours tops. After that the software does the rest....condoms going to 32932 zip...taxable...raw rice going to 92322 zip...exempt. very easy for a computer to do. The software provider would do all the res…

I think his point was as a consumer it is difficult to know your final bill since some items are exempt, some are taxed at a lower rate, etc.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#494
I've lived in many a city in "flyover country" and I think it's long overdue.

The result of plunging sales tax revenue due to online shopping, for a lot of places, is bridges falling apart, underfunded police agencies, teachers leaving the profession because they don't want to live in poverty, schools without supplies, without music programs, without art programs, let alone STEM programs, colleges shrinking, faculty not being hired, roads going unrepaired, homeless population growing, libraries being gutted, social programs and social service agencies facing layoffs and shortages, and on and on.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#495

I've lived in many a city in "flyover country" and I think it's long overdue. The result of plunging sales tax revenue due to online shopping, for a lot of places, is bridges falling apart, underfunded police agencies, teachers leaving the profession because they don't want to live in poverty, schools without supplies, without music programs, without art programs, let alone STEM programs, colleges shrinking, faculty…

All because of online shopping? It is difficult to believe some of these aren't the result of changing demographics and/or economic forces beyond online shopping

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#497
Will foreign companies who sell internet services to US customers have to collect state sales taxes?

This would be a serious nightmare. We already limit our sales to Canada because if we go over a relatively low threshold, we'd have to collect and remit state sales tax for about 12 territories. Having to do the same for 11,000 US jurisdictions would instantly stop foreign entrants into the US market.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#498
post #460

This is going to drive so much business OUT of states with these taxes.

Unlikely. This is similar to an occupancy tax... why not soak out-of-state guests who don't have much choice in the matter, and won't be voting to do away with the tax. A SaaS business is going to refuse to do business w/, say, Proctor & Gamble and pay Ohio sales taxes? No way.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#499
post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100,000 in sales is a very low bar. That's equivalent to a business with a single employee, the owner, and they're probably not making a livable wage yet.

$100k of South Dakota revenue is either an almost exclusively local single-owner business or a much larger internet shop. But regardless, that kind of number is a full time job. If you're selling over the internet and making a full time job out of it, you can handle computing sales tax for SD residents. Yes, it's burdensome. Yes, it would be good to have a simpler federal framework for this. No, it's not the end of t…

At like a 10% profit (in the best case), that's a pretty terrible full time job.

Re: States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

#500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this is another needless regulation that creates more useless rent-seekers?

So any service that makes it easier to do business is a “rent seeker”? Does that include Square? AWS? Every site that does e-commerce web hosting?

If the service they're providing is only necessary because of artificial barriers, then basically yes. The banking cartel that controls the payment system is a huge fan of collecting economic rents, yes.
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