Talk > Rants, Raves, and Praise > [Rant] Sale tax on ebay

[Rant] Sale tax on ebay

Your telling me.

If a company fails to collect sales tax we are supposed to pay it when we file state return in July.

reply to r81984
Sales tax isn't getting out of control. Getting out of control would imply that it is some outrageous rate like 20%. Sales tax is merely catching up with technology.
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What smells like blue?

reply to r81984

Amazon should have stood their ground and refused to collect sales tax for internet purchases.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr.

So you favour large commercial interests simply refusing to comply with laws they don't like?

(Actually, Amazon once before simply moved out - by closing their Dallas distribution centre - but they have apparently concluded that a physical TX presence is more important to them than helping you avoid paying your due taxes).

Im in favor of the acknowledgement that the internet is international and even outside of the planet. Countries should not have any regulation on internet commerce.

I cant believe there are people that see nothing wrong with companies collecting state tax on an internet sale.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr.

reply to r81984
as long as they have something in state and its going to the state I have no issue with them charging sales tax.

However on Ebay how do I know the seller isn't charging it and claiming they have to to comply and then just pocketing it. Texas has no power over someone all the way in Ohio and selling an item on Ebay. My guess is they charged tax and kept the extra money.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

reply to r81984
The 'regulation on internet commerce' is primarily the state you live in charging a sales or use tax on all purchases. You become liable for the tax when you either (a) buy an item in-state, or (b) buy it out-of-state and bring it in-state. Your requirement to pay the tax is nothing to do with the internet; it applies equally if you buy something in a store in the state next door.

»www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/use/

The only thing the internet has done is to make it more confused about when the seller needs to collect the tax at the point of sale.
A given state, of course, wants the seller to be required to collect the tax on all sales shipped to the state, but the Supreme Court ruled that unconstitutional; the seller had to have physical presence in the state before the state could force it to collect tax.

Again, it's all down to (in your case) Texas. The only federal involvement here is to tell Amazon (and their ilk) that they don't have to collect taxes in states where they have no presence.

So, to summarize: the only entity that's making you pay sales tax to Amazon is the great state of Texas. Not the federal government (yet) and not some other country.

(And you'd still be legally liable for the tax even if Amazon did not collect it. I can't believe there are people who fail to understand this).

Your argument about the international nature of the internet is frankly bizarre, because stuff purchased internationally is still subject to taxes.

What about intergalactic?

Historically no one pays state taxes voluntarily on interstate purchases or on the internet.
The practice of internet retailers being forced to collect tax is BS. A warehouse is not retail presence in a state. State governments are just trying to get more money by forcing internet companies to collect taxes they know otherwise no one will pay.
In the end it just hurts the business as consumers will go somewhere else than places like amazon.

I find it odd that anyone on here would be against a rant against sales tax on internet purchases. Very odd.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr.

What I'm against is self-serving arguments. Yours is transparently "I don't want to pay it therefore it is wrong that Amazon charges it". I'm simply capable of separating the ideas of right/wrong from what I personally would benefit from.

reply to r81984
It's good that I have read your post. Thank you for informing us. I was suppose to buy something but because of this, I think I won't buy it anymore.

reply to dave

reply to dave
here in SNJ we have the Delaware Solution. aka if the sales tax is more than Fuel and the Bridge you drive to Delaware and get it with tax free shopping.

Considering the State of Delaware advertises itself as the "Home of tax free shopping" I imagine its completely legal to go there and never declare it once back home.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

NH advertises the delights of tax-free shopping but the state of MA still expects you to pay the MA use tax on your purchases.

NH is under no obligation to remind anyone of what MA law says.

(NH also builds state-owned liquor stores on major highways just over the border from MA...)

In my state of Oregon we are still sales tax free also, and on the border of Washington there's a large electronics mall. People come here to buy large ticket items sales tax free, even smaller stuff like cigarettes which cost less here even before adding their sales tax.

The only way we would ever vote in a sales tax is the abolishment, or severe reduction in property, and income taxes.
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I distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires- Susan B. Anthony
Yesterday we obeyed kings, and bent out necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to the truth- Kahlil G.

Is this sample of what's to come if the Feds pass the bills requiring Internet/out-of-state sales tax collection?

reply to r81984
Stores envy ebay and the deals. I see it as a bigger conspiracy. After all why would these big stores want ebay dealers to steal their customers.

reply to dcurrey

Sure - back to the original issue, the eBay thing sounds like a total scam. If I were the OP, I would have refused to pay it, and if that meant I lost out on the "bargain", so be it. If you deal with crooks then you encourage crookedness. Or, on a more selfish level, how can you trust someone who's crooked in one thing to only be crooked in that one thing?

(I don't quite understand how sales tax could be charged after payment had been agreed, but it sounds like the OP got told about the tax too late to not buy).