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Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

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Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#31

Post by weds »

nateabele wrote: post #19
doktrin wrote: post #17

Is the argument that there should be no sales tax, or that online businesses should be exempt from it? Alternatively, is there some specific compliance issue or formulation in the proposed legislation that is poorly thought out? I'm genuinely curious, as (in principle) the fact that online businesses have been exempt from sales tax largely strikes me as an anomaly and not some new standard.

Mail-order catalog businesses, which have existed for decades? You only pay tax in jurisdictions in which you're physically based (for an internet startup, this would be wherever you're incorporated). This axiom has held in US tax policy for about as long as there has been US tax policy. Kinda ties in with that whole 'no taxation without representation' thing. Edit: for clarity .

Sales tax is applied to the buyer, not the seller

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#32

Post by utopkara »

What is wrong with paying sales tax over things that we buy over the internet again? Isn't the real problem the fact that we have to pay sales tax in general, and/or the sales tax rate? Sales tax income goes to your state. There are states which can sustain without a sales tax (or even income tax); they certainly get that money from somewhere though.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#33

Post by gte910h »

I honestly don't care if retailers have to collect income tax: But municipalities/states SHOULD have to pick off a menu of plans from the federal government for internet tax for their boundaries, and should have to register their boundaries with a federal agency.

The burden of dealing with every crazy tax situation and variety in every municipality in the country is the issue. Not the tax itself.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#35

Post by gejjaxxita »

As far as I can understand this isn't a new tax, it's just a law which makes it easier for tax which is owed anyway to be collected. Nobody likes paying tax but governments need money to provide services. Perhaps I'm a bit blase about this because I don't live in America so this doesn't affect me, but unless you want to not pay tax which you legally should, I don't see the problem.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#36

Post by avanderveen »

Because HN readers aren't idiots. We know that it is good and right for sales tax to be charged on sales. And, that the sale occurring on the internet does not make it an essentially different thing than any other purchase of a good or service. I think that, for HN readers, is very important: the internet is a different marketplace, not a different reality, and to treat it differently in some aspects can lead to legal problems and credibility issues down the road.

In terms of the nightmare that is implementation, that is another story.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#37

Post by Glyptodon »

virmundi wrote: post #28
lavezza wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little more difficult than that. I grew up in Pennsylvania. My zip code was for the town next to the township I lived in. There were taxes for stores in the town that weren't levied on the township (two different local gov'ts). Also, PA doesn't tax clothing while Maryland a few miles away does. So every item you sell would have to be categorized in some way (and maybe differently in different areas). So, every deli…

So in general it's more complex than I opined in the three minutes it took to post, but it doesn't seem to be impossible. If anything it's complexity merits a service. This would require a few people and sme coordination, but should be doable. Who's with me? New start up.

Service for this == middleman effectively increasing the burden of any tax and wasting resources.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#38

Post by Glyptodon »

avanderveen wrote: post #36

Because HN readers aren't idiots. We know that it is good and right for sales tax to be charged on sales. And, that the sale occurring on the internet does not make it an essentially different thing than any other purchase of a good or service. I think that, for HN readers, is very important: the internet is a different marketplace, not a different reality, and to treat it differently in some aspects can lead to lega…

I don't think we know that - I'm pretty sure more than 0 of us suspect that sales tax shouldn't exist at all.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#39

Post by seliopou »

ohhlx wrote: post #24
seliopou wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it definitely does level the playing field between brick & mortar business and online businesses, and to a certain extent amongst states. What would have been really interesting is if the taxes revenues went to the state that the business was operating out of. Unfortunately, that'd probably just mean more tax revenue for either Delaware or the existing tech hubs of America. I think it's because of this fact that…

How does this level the field between brick & mortar and online business? I manage operations for a small brand that operates both as an online business (recent venture) and brick & mortar (2 stores, 2 different states). It seems that this would help us by taxing us more and increasing our IT costs in terms of implementation? If you are operating a small business (retailers,service provider) in this day and age - it…

If goods are taxed more businesses raise their prices. Businesses aren't being taxed. Consumers are. The only cost businesses have to pay is the cost of implementing the system, which is a fixed cost that you'll pay off over time.

Also, you're kindof proving my point by stating that these new policies may deter brick & mortar businesses from entering the online space. A brick & mortar business by definition doesn't have an e-commerce presence. Ones that do have a hybrid business model. For those, there's an interesting dynamic that management will face that's a close reflection of what the greater market will have to deal with, i.e., which side of the business to invest in. But anyways, if you admit that brick & mortar businesses will be deterred from moving to e-commerce, then you're admitting that the brick & mortal model is more competitive under the new tax regime.

Re: Ask HN: Congress is Passing an Internet Sales Tax: Why Doesn't HN Care?

#40

Post by acjohnson55 »

apawloski wrote: post #29

So will we see VPNs in Delaware spike from this? It's not clear to me if this is just extending already existing state sales taxes to the Internet, or if these are new, additional taxes.

Not unless you're getting your products shipped to Delaware
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