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Erik Krämer
eCommerce, SEO, Arts & Crafts Industry and zombies
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Posts
- Oct 17, 11
Amazon cut ties with thier Conneticut based affiliates in June, following the states’s May implementation of its new Internet Sales Tax laws. Depsite this, Conneticut is pressuring the retailer to pay taxes for the one month covered under the law but the state doesn’t plan to stop there.
In a quote from the Bloomberg report:
“All we have to do is get in the door. Once we get in the door, there are some more opportunities that come,” –Dept. of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin Sullivan
They plan to continue wrestling tax from Amazon, and that although the firm has nothing under the law that could be recognized as nexus, or physical presence. It isn’t, however, simply about tax is Sullivan’s mind. ”They’re not fighting against a burden on their ability to do business in the state of Connecticut,” Sullivan is quoted to have said. “They’re fighting to protect an advantage against everybody else who’s doing business in the state of Connecticut.”
Sullivan isn’t alone in this stance. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy echos the sentiment in his quote, ”I … believe there are trends at play in the United States that are going to move in the right direction to dissipate the unfair advantage that these kinds of retailers have over job-producers in our state.”
If there is one thing I, personally, tire of is this holy crusade approach. Does anyone really think, “Hey! I’ll buy that online because I don’t pay tax on it!” I know I never have and would love to hear from someone who does. It doesn’t even occur to me. The reason I, and most others I suspect, buy online is convenience. I don’t have to go to my car, find a parking space, blah blah blah. Lazy? Maybe. I’m also pressed for time. Time for me.
So I beg all of the politicians to stop posturing and pretending you’re going to bat for the “common man” in Main Street USA (à la Main Street Fairness Act) when all I really see is the desire for more money in the state’s coffers. Don’t misunderstand me and think I believe running a state is free or easy. It’s a business and I accept that. What I’m asking is why can’t anyone just come out and say that? It won’t change a thing for brick-and-mortars were all businesses, online or offline, to charge and pay taxes. It also won’t put the internet businesses out of business, as feared by Overstock’s Mark Griffin, the company’s General Counsel. The advantage the online retailers have, allowing you to shop in your underwear, will still remain (unless some laws are changed which, in my mind, could have grotesque aesthetic repercussions).
“…but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” –Benjamin Franklin
That said, I believe we need federal legislation so that the solution is tidy and applied across the board. One flat tax amount that everyone pays when purchasing online. It streamlines the process for online retailers instead of maintaining up-to-date charts on every county in the county. We, the online retailers, would then pay the federal government and they, in turn, divvy that money up the way they see fit.
In fact, many online retailors see the inevitability of paying tax and embrace a federal solution. Amazon’s Vice President for Global Public Policy, Paul Misener was quoted as saying that Amazon has “long supported a simple, nationwide system of state and local sales tax collection, evenhandedly applied to all sellers, no matter their business model, location, or level of remote sales.”
Time will tell how all of this will end. Business is no different than life, the only two certainties are death and taxes.
- Oct 17, 11
We’ve all heard about the year extension deal struck between Amazon and California regarding collecting taxes for sales in the state but that is only one state out of our fifty. Pennsylvania is now looking at the missing tax money (over $300 million) as another income stream by adding the field to tax returns and asking citizens to report items on which no tax (in this case 6%) was paid. You can read more details about the subject of Pennsylvanian Online Sales Tax examination as reported by “The Morning Call”.
I work both for myself and for the US Army and the need to find new sources of income is felt by us all. States are no exception. They miss out on a lot of tax money (grumble if you will, but there IS a deficit).
God help you if this comes out after a few years worth of sales!
Since before the internet, taxes have not been collected from companies who shipped goods across a border, a measure to protect and encourage interstate business. I mean, can you imagine keeping tax rates in all 48 contiguous states straight? It was left to the citizens to report the purchases and to pay what is called a Use Tax. They could only task a business to collect taxes if they had nexus (physical presence) in the taxable jurisdiction to be held accountable. In Amazon’s case, California was saying Californian residents acting as affiliates qualified as nexus. In eCommerce, the factories or shipping centers, the origins of the product, also qualify as nexus. That means if you run an online store in, say Indiana, and ship products ordered on your store from a warehouse in Texas, then you are responsible to collect taxes for purchases made in both states. God help you if this comes out after a few years worth of sales!
Is Pennsylvania’s response the better way? Many eCommerce store owner’s would likely prefer the states to take it up with its citizens rather than the store’s owners. These same owners, however, would quickly see what a pain it is as they start having to track their own online purchases to report (no, I don’t really think people are quite that determined to be honest). It doesn’t mean it is the perfect solution, however. How many would honestly report it? How many even know what they’ve spent? Pennsylvania only expects an additional $5-$6 million tax income. That was out of over $300 million you’ll recall. With that small an increase, it stands to reason they can’t really invest in investigation or follow-up. That means only the honest people end up paying more tax. No good deed goes unpunished. Still, I suppose that’s the case anyway.
Allow me to digress a moment on the topic of tax evasion. In Greece, it is the national hobby. Restaurants only pay tax on the meals where the person, likely a tourist on buisness, has asked for a receipt. People brag about it. What is the end result? Bankruptcy for the entire country. Don’t get me wrong, the government should have been out their checking on these people. The Germans have an expression for just this sort of scenario: Trust is good, control (i.e. checking) is better! The governemnt, desperate, ends up taxing water to such an extent that some families are paying 1000€ in taxes. Middle class families are being bankrupted by the taxes they can no longer pay. Panic, anger, chaos on all sides. So people, pay your damn taxes. We all gripe about it.
