Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Merry Christmas: Congress Could Vote for an Online Sales Tax before the End of the Year

Retail groups are increasingly confident that they have the votes to pass a federal online sales tax in the final weeks of the 112th Congress if they can secure time on the legislative calendar, reports Politico.

With less than five weeks to go in the year, supporters are concentrating most of their efforts on the Senate, where a measure giving states greater latitude to collect sales taxes from online purchases has a powerful backer in Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), says Politico.

Both the Senate and House proposals would allow states to collect sales taxes from internet retailers located in other states, an approach that also has been backed by prominent GOP governors, such as Cato favorite Chris Christie.

Politico continues:
Lawmakers could easily remain in Washington until they have to vote on a broad tax and spending deal, meaning there could be time for an online sales tax to get a standalone vote in the Senate. A measure could be tacked onto any fiscal-cliff deal negotiated between the White House and Congress...

“I think we’re close,” Durbin told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s one of those we really won’t know until we test it.

Claire Burghoff, a spokeswoman for Womack, said she also expected the Senate to take the lead on the online sales tax in the lame duck, and that staff in the House and Senate were meeting daily to try and patch up any differences.

“We have a lot of momentum on our side right now,” Burghoff said...

“I think this is a question of can we get a vote, not if it can pass,” said Jason Brewer, a spokesman for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). “We feel confident about the vote count, but there’s also not a lot of time to push this across the finish line.”

16 comments:

  1. Wasn't there a time in this country when retailers actually objected to being tax collectors for the state, instead of clamoring for more dirty work?

    Thanks, assholes.

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  2. I'm going to have to get more creative in buying bullion if this goes through. If the noose keeps tightening I'm stepping up my plans to leave this country.

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  3. Isn't this being backed by Lew Rockwell's favorite proponent of state control: Amazon?

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  4. First tax, then regulate. Backdoor takeover of the web. Fascists.

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  5. Thats the ticket lets figure out better ways to slow and kill commerce that is working. That way maybe this country will wake up and realize we dont need nearly as much as we were brainwashed to believe we did!

    Lets just outlaw Black Friday, The diamond industry and Christmas while were at it!

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  6. Sad, Sad, Sad. Demoralize the people even more.

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  7. Another way of big brother getting in our pockets. Who is really behind this? There bust be an angle for someone to make money off this, it seems every other law congress passes makes someone in the house or senate richer.

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    1. Taxing business on the net is a way to shift more taxes on to the middle class to take the heat off the top 5 percent getting their normal tax rate reinstated. It would also be a way for the government to obtain control over the net as the government would have access to anyone's records that do any business on the internet.

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  8. this should make it clear that there is no distinction between the
    elepharts and donkycrooks, they are all just doing the biding of the CORPRATOCRACY. I got out of the U.S. of Sheeple 7 years ago, the handwriting on the wall was clear. If you can´t see it clearly now, then as the old patriot said ¨you deserve the government you got!!¨.
    Anonymous (by necessity!!!!)

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  9. Taxing the internet is a half baked idea. How will they define what is taxed?
    Will it be only merchandise they tax? Things like merchandise? How will merchandise be defined? Will it include down loaded information like reports, maps, or advice? How about taxes on email usage determined by the line or distance sent plus modem speed used? How about taxing advertisers banners by the number and by the inch of space used on the web page? How about taxing how many web sites the banners appear on? How complicated will the tax forms be? Will individuals and businesses have to employ a staff of tax accountants to keep up with all the regulations and paper work? Most ominous is the government would have to have access to all content programs etc. This would be a back door to the government seizing control of the internet which is the last uncontrolled source of unbiased information available to everyone.

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  10. Some states, such as Arizona, already have a self reporting inet tax in place for merchandise ordered outside the state. The process is not very successful because it relies on the honor system. The latest move, promoted by brick and mortar retailers and your elected officials, is designed to "level the playing field" for retailers and pull in more tax revenue (to redistribute) by requiring online retailers collect the sales tax based on the state and location where the order is being shipped.

    Amazon actually supports the new inet tax as a opportunity to market their proprietary tax collection software to other inet retailers. The delivery services (UPS and FedEx) will probably take an immediate hit and during the quarter following implementation. As Rahm Emanuel said, each crisis presents an opportunity. Don't let it go to waste. Consider selling UPS and FedEx short for a quick profit to offset a portion of your tax increase.

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    1. Michigan is similiar - you're supposed to report your "use tax" on remote purchases, which coincidentally and amazingly is the same rate as the sales tax. I, and I'm sure most Michigan residents, "use" the opportunity to ignore this bullshit cash grab.

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  11. If citizens and illegals want their government benefits and largesse it's time to pay up. people need to grow up and realize that they must pay for all the things they vote for... Have a nice 4 years.

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  12. Ralph is correct. Blaming congress for alowing a tax collection is incorrect. Most states have a use tax for merchandise bought out of state. Not very useful because as Ralph says, it's an honor system for paying.

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  13. Granted, I don't like taxes, who does?

    They've got it backwards though. They need to collect the tax in that state, for that state where the business is located. That would put the states in competition with each other to keep tax rates low and be fiscally responsible to attract busines.

    Collecting for all the other states will be a nightmare with thousands of different tax codes across the country.

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    1. Exactly. But the big retailers prefer a tax system that is impossible for a small business to comply with. For example, if you sell 200 items a year on eBay, you will have to fill out sales tax forms for most of the individual states, with different forms and rules for each state. The result will be to eliminate competition for the large retailers.

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