51–60 of 116 posts
This may be a silly question, but does this sales tax also apply to SaaS products that you might sell? Or is this only for physical products a la Amazon?
This may be a silly question, but does this sales tax also apply to SaaS products that you might sell? Or is this only for physical products a la Amazon?
It depends on the state. Some states tax services (eg Ohio), while most states only tax physical goods.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it's a wonder common sense has held out as long as it has. > I don't want a level playing field. If you explicitly advocate that some businesses should be treated more favorably than others with respect to taxation, even if they are selling the same goods to the same customers, fine. But the opposite point of view is surely not "bullshit".
The bullshit part is trying to apply a geographic model of governance and taxation onto a technology that is location-independent. It has nothing to do with treating businesses one way or the other. Politicians want to view economic data as somehow being "owned" by a county, state, or country. So they make policies that are supposed to manage (for lack of a better word) commerce inside those boundaries. But we don't…
What kind of government is not "location based"? People who live in a place are bound by the laws of that place. That hasn't somehow changed in the 21st century.
You argue that Internet sales tax hurts the poor. That's true because it's a sales tax (a consumption tax), but it has nothing to do with the Internet part. If you think that sales tax is a bad idea that's one thing, but it looks here like you're arguing that taxing face-to-face transactions is fine but taxing transactions over the Internet is unfair. I don't get how the technology justifies the tax exemption.
viva btc
It's been a very busy news week. Reid picked just the right time to slide this in -- the air has been sucked out of the room by other stories. Congress had a hands-off approach to the internet for some time, and it took off like wildfire because of it. All that's changing now, it seems. I'm disappointed that there's so many avenues of attack for legislators that it's effectively impossible to cover all of our bases.…
I don't understand this line of thinking. People already pay sales taxes in big box stores, so in this case, it's more like the Government is artificially encouraging online businesses and penalizing physical stores. Both kinds of businesses being subject to the same rules is a good thing surely?
I do not think people should be really against this. If you are against paying sales tax, lobby your local government to stop sales tax.
For now I don't care because (1) I'm already paying sales tax and (2) This is a US centric thing, if anything it levels the playingfield / is an advantage depending on where you are. The fact that there was a time when you did not have to pay sales tax should be seen as a gift, if there is one thing that seems to be a certainty over the long run it is that if there is a flow of money sooner or later it will be taxed.
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 h…
This is entirely dependent on which part of the supply chain has the fiercest competition. Sometimes consumers get the economic profit and pay cost (commodities) and sometimes the producers do (monopolies, who already charge what the market will bear)