Pay more for online purchases? Marketplace Fairness Act 2013!

[sellersm]

This sounds like a page from Atlas Shrugged!! http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-20/guest-post-new-law-will-ensure-you-pay-more-online-purchases


In another brilliant move aimed at destroying the few table scraps of economic freedom which remain in the Land of the Free, a bipartisan group of esteemed lawmakers in the United States Congress has introduced the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013.
Remember the golden rule of legislation: the more noble the name of the law sounds, the more disastrous its results. This one is no exception.

Generally speaking in the United States, retailers must collect state and local sales tax at the point of sale. When you walk into a Main Street shop in Anytown, California, you’ll pay the sticker price PLUS hefty city and state sales taxes that can easily be 10% or more.

But if you purchase goods through the mail from a company in, say, Nevada or Oregon, either through the mail or online, no sales tax is charged. This goes back to a 20+ year old US Supreme Court decision which exempted out of state companies from collecting sales tax.

Well, according to the intellectual luminaries in Congress, local retailers are at a disadvantage, effectively having to charge 10%+ more for their products than an out-of-state retailer.

And by God, they’re going to do something about it. After all, it’s just not ‘fair’ that mom and pop retailers on main street have to charge sales tax, while mom and pop retailers on the Internet do not.

The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 aims to level the playing field by requiring online retailers to collect some sort of sales tax from their customers. Needless to say, if the bill is passed, it will be the customer who ends up paying the price.

The thinking on this is completely absurd.

One of the primary reasons people shop online is because online retailers have reduced overhead costs, and these cost savings are passed along to consumers in the form of lower prices.

So if the idea is to ensure that brick and mortar retailers don’t suffer any competitive price disadvantage, why not just regulate prices altogether? Or even better, why not just abolish sales taxes altogether?

That’s because this bill has absolutely nothing to do with fairness, and everything to do with the government taking more of your money. This bill constitutes STEP 1 on the road to a national sales tax, which, given the state of national and state balance sheets, is a financial inevitability.

It’s the most insidious form of deceit – creating new taxes masquerading as ‘fairness’. It’s a total fraud, brought to you by the same people who tell us that there is no inflation, and that we must sexually assault airline passengers in order to protect ourselves from men in caves.

Have you hit your breaking point yet?

[facepalm]

[KestrelBike]

Gettin there!

[Ingman]

They are fixing the wrong end of the problem. It would also be fair to abolish all sales taxes, and it would do wonders for the economy.

[ChunkyMonkey]

&*(#^$*(&^#$*(^%*($#*&($#(&($&$#)(*^$&!@#$&*%#$()#&)$(*$@)%*$%*#$*)@#&*%)@#$(*@ !!!!!

[Teufelhund]

Ongoing lobby. This isn't the first iteration. This is largely sponsored by your local and favorite Wal-Mart, for the record. That corp has been lobbying hard to apply sales tax to online sales; it's their axe to grind against amazon.com. Because clearly, Wal-Mart is being injured here by "having" to charge that extra 10% for their Chinese Crap that comes in free from tariff... ooops.

Ironically, the same "logic" which supports this bill would also make it reasonable to make big box-store outlets raise their prices to make it "fair" for the mom & pop shops to be able to compete with them.

[HBARleatherneck]

wait until they start doing the stamp tax on emails. they have been trying that for years too.

[lowbeyond]

This is the one where the State says, well you see here out of state company. I know that you get zero services from our State/local government, but you must collect taxes for us because ummm you know, we have more guns then you, and are more willing to use them, and hey that is a nice warehouse you got, shame if something were to happen to it...

[TS12000]

And then you'll need a registration number and tax id to sell your own property via sites like eBay and craigslist, and since cash is the equalizer that helps domestic terrorists sell coffee tables to each other without giving uncle Sam his cut we'll just get rid of that too...federally watched transaction cards for everyone, yay!

Sorry, had to go full tinfoil

[Circuits]

The supreme court decision relieves online, phone and mail-order sellers from having to collect sales tax on goods delivered outside their city/county/state. It does not exempt those sales from sales tax, it exempts the seller from being forced to collect it for a different state/county/city.

The BUYER is legally obligated to remit the proper taxes on such purposes to their city/county/state in the form of a "USE tax" equal in rate to the sales tax rate their local sellers are obliged by the state to collect. The problem is all you tax cheats not paying your use taxes, and the city/county/state having no organized means to enforce the payment of those taxes.

[HBARleatherneck]

. The problem is all you tax cheats not paying your use taxes, and the city/county/state having no organized means to enforce the payment of those taxes.
no the problem is they want to collect money they dont rate. they will just blow it on crap anyway. in no way bettering the populace, just growing the government. starve em out.

[Sawin]

I think I'm just going to stop buying anything at all except the bare essentials. I'm seriously considering just starting to hoard silver and gold bullion until the dollar collapses. This crap is getting ridiculous.

[Sawin]

wait until they start doing the stamp tax on emails. they have been trying that for years too.

You can't be serious?!? Talk about reason to have a modern day tea-party...

[Teufelhund]

I think I'm just going to stop buying anything at all except the bare essentials. I'm seriously considering just starting to hoard silver and gold bullion until the dollar collapses. This crap is getting ridiculous.

Terrorist.

[HBARleatherneck]

You can't be serious?!? Talk about reason to a modern day tea-party...
this gets passed around the internet. but, its only a matter of time before its true. if they can tax something, the government thinks it their duty to tax it.

[Sawin]

Terrorist.

haha. troll.

[lowbeyond]

The supreme court decision relieves online, phone and mail-order sellers from having to collect sales tax on goods delivered outside their city/county/state. It does not exempt those sales from sales tax, it exempts the seller from being forced to collect it for a different state/county/city.

The BUYER is legally obligated to remit the proper taxes on such purposes to their city/county/state in the form of a "USE tax" equal in rate to the sales tax rate their local sellers are obliged by the state to collect. The problem is all you tax cheats not paying your use taxes, and the city/county/state having no organized means to enforce the payment of those taxes.

Tax Cheat! *snort*

People don't comply with stupid ass laws like speed limits and use taxes. Soon, at least some, will give the State of Colorado the finger by refusing to comply with the law and gift - or sell - a 15+ round magazine to their friend or hell to a stranger. Some will even go out of state after July 1 2013 and buy one and bring it back into the state. Some will continue to CC on college campuses. Some will even illegally transfer a gun to their friend or extended family member with out a BCG.

zomg ! anarchy!

"legally obligated" *snort* Who gives a shit?

[Fmedges]

Your actually supposed to declare all your online purchases on your Colorado taxes currently.

[def90]

This sounds like a page from Atlas Shrugged!! http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-20/guest-post-new-law-will-ensure-you-pay-more-online-purchases



[facepalm]


When are people going to get it right? Yes the law says that out of state vendors do not have to collect the use/sales tax. The law of Colorado still says that you need to pay that tax personally. There is a form for paying consumer "use" tax. Simply buying items online does not give you the authority to not pay tax on that item, it simply means that the person you are buying form does not need to file it for you.

Colorado Consumer Use Tax:
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/Revenue/REVX/1177017542096

Consumer use tax must be paid by Colorado residents and businesses on purchases that did not include Colorado sales tax, such as those made over the Internet, by mail order, or by telephone.

What is the Consumer Use Tax?
Consumer use tax is payable to the state by individuals and businesses when sales tax is due but has not been collected. Individuals and businesses have always been required to pay sales or use tax on taxable purchases from out-of-state vendors if the item is sold, leased, or delivered in Colorado for use, storage, distribution, or consumption in the state.

Colorado state use tax is the same rate as the sales tax, 2.9 percent. With proof of payment, sales tax paid to another state may be credited against state use tax due in Colorado for a particular item. Use tax is also collected by some special districts.

How has the Law Changed?
There has been no change in law for consumers. Because most individuals have been unaware of their use tax liability, recent legislation created new requirements for retailers to help consumers follow existing law. These notifications are intended to help Colorado residents pay their use tax obligation.

Retailers that do not collect Colorado sales tax are now required to notify Colorado purchasers that the State of Colorado requires the purchaser to file a use tax return. Retailers must send notification to all Colorado purchasers by January 31 of each year showing the total amount purchased from the retailer in the previous calendar year if their purchases were more than $500.

Retailers must report all purchase information annually to the Department of Revenue (including purchases of under $500). The new law exempts retailers from these requirements if their annual gross sales in Colorado are less than $100,000.

[sellersm]

When are people going to get it right? Yes the law says that out of state vendors do not have to collect the use/sales tax. The law of Colorado still says that you need to pay that tax personally. There is a form for paying consumer "use" tax. Simply buying items online does not give you the authority to not pay tax on that item, it simply means that the person you are buying form does not need to file it for you.
<snip>

Did you even read the article? It's not about paying tax or not, but the government REGULATING the 'fairness/equity' between/amongst businesses!! Did you read Atlas Shrugged? The .gov has NO BUSINESS meddling in businesses and deciding what's "fair" between them...