Amazon Folds In California Sales Tax Deal 639
theodp writes "In a deal indicating all sides appear ready to call a truce, the San Jose Mercury News reports that Amazon.com is offering to back down from its referendum drive to repeal an online sales tax in exchange for a one-year moratorium on collecting the tax. Under the deal, Amazon would agree to begin collecting the tax from California residents in September 2012, unless Congress takes action on Internet sales taxes before then. The development comes a day after a NY Times editorial ripped Amazon over its sales 'tax dodge.'"
Amzon isnt dodging anything (Score:4, Informative)
The consumers who are purchasing from Amazon and sites like it are dodging sales tax, not Amazon.
Those people have a LEGAL requirement to self-report those taxable items on their yearly tax returns and pay any and all sales tax due on said items at that time.
Just because those people aren't doing so, doesn't put Amazon and other online sites in the wrong.
Re:[sigh] (Score:4, Informative)
Are you fucking kidding?
The Blue states are the only ones making any money. The red states are propped up with farm subsidies and other federal welfare.
The "leftist" state of Germany is the biggest economy in the EU, they are pretty much the only thing keeping it solvent.
Re:[sigh] (Score:5, Informative)
Um... I think you need to look at a US map... because what you said is exactly the opposite of what is true here.
http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/state_debt/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/17/us/20081117_budget_graphic.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Red_state,_blue_state.svg
The blue states tend to be in the most debt.
Re:[sigh] (Score:5, Informative)
Because of those subsidies I mentioned.
Take a look at who gets how much federal funding for each dollar they send to the fed in income tax.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html [typepad.com]
Re:Actually... (Score:5, Informative)
Sales tax does not work for securities and investments.
If securities were taxed at 30% when you purchased it, it would mean that you have to get a 30% return on your money to break even. Stock traders would not exists because they would have to pay taxes every time the purchase something, even if they lose money. Commodity markets will fail for similar reasoning. If you are a middle man who can add 10% value to a product and resale it, you would still lose money.
Income tax is much more appropriate in these scenarios because you only are taxed on the money you gains. If you buy something at $100 and sell it at $110, you are only taxed on 10 dollars of income. With a sales tax, you make $10 in income but have to pay $30 in taxes resulting in a net loss of $20.
Re:[sigh] (Score:3, Informative)
I do every year. My state even has a default amount if you don't have records. Many states have that option.
I will not give it a break, anymore than I will give a break to those who steal from the honor fridge or those who don't pay to get into/park at parks. Sure lots of people do those things, lots of people are scumbags.
Re:[sigh] (Score:5, Informative)
1. The tax foundation.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/92.html [taxfoundation.org]
for an updated one. A major news outlet is about the least worthwhile source ever.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22685.html [taxfoundation.org]
That is sourced from the census consolidated federal funds report from 2005.
Here is a link to that.
http://www.census.gov/govs/cffr/ [census.gov]
Page 23 of the 2009 report should prove interesting to you.
Re:[sigh] (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah, thank goodness CA has ballot measures. Wouldn't want to be like TX!
Check out the map on http://blog.american.com/2010/06/america-as-texas-vs-california-who%E2%80%99s-moving-where-edition/ [american.com] to see what other people think... and follow it to forbes and check out how CA compares.
CA really dodged a bullet there didn't you?
Re:Amzon isnt dodging anything (Score:2, Informative)
How is somebody in Mississippi supposed to know that the guy who lives at 123 Some Road. Someplace, NY 12345 pays 7.5%, but the guy at 124 Some Road. Someplace NY 12345 pays 8.0%?
You may have missed it, but there are these new-fangled inventions called "computers" and "the internet" which have proven to be quite useful for figuring out such problems, and that it turns out anybody doing interstate sales needs access to these anyway just to be able to make such sales!
Re:[sigh] (Score:4, Informative)
Ask not who is clueless, you might be surprised.
If Amazon uses that one-year grace period to get out of California, it just might work.
In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court determined in Bellas Hess v. Illinois that states could not require companies without either property or employees in the state to collect sales and use tax – in other words, companies needed a physical nexus. The 1992 Supreme Court Case Quill v. North Dakota then reaffirmed the principle that a company must have a substantive nexus in order for the state to require the company to collect sales taxes.
Get rid of the physical nexus, and the sales tax disappears. There are a few states with no sales tax. If Amazon relocates their warehouses and office to only those states, they can ship all over the US with impunity.