Mark42
Fleet Admiral
Thread starter- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
Been doing all my Christmas shopping online this year. Also make sure that the retailers do not charge tax and have free shipping. I "bundle" the purchases together so that shipping is free (most of the time).
Got me thinking about how much revenue the state is losing on purchases. To date, the retailers have made such a fuss about having to collect and pay state taxes on out of state purchases, that only retailers with physical locations in your state are required to collect state tax. The whole process of keeping track of state tax rates, shipping state and purchase state, etc is a real burden to retailers. Its no wonder they don't want to collect tax. And with the low interest rates (below 1%) there is no incentive to hold tax money to get the float interest.
I wonder how much longer this "no tax" situation will continue. I'm afraid that this year the physical retail locations (ie Walmart, Kmart, Sears, JCPenny, etc) will take a hit on sales that were done online to online only retailers to beat tax. Then they will start to complain.
In the beginning,(aka just 5 or 6 years ago) tax free online shopping was a hot topic, but the sales were so small, no one complained about the loss of tax revenue, and the topic dropped off the radar. With all the talk about federal tax raises, I'm sure the state tax issue will raise its head again.
I hope the internet stays tax free.
Yes, I am aware that I am supposed to report and pay taxes on "out of state" purchases on the state tax return. But until they come knocking on my door, I have made no out of state purchases.
Got me thinking about how much revenue the state is losing on purchases. To date, the retailers have made such a fuss about having to collect and pay state taxes on out of state purchases, that only retailers with physical locations in your state are required to collect state tax. The whole process of keeping track of state tax rates, shipping state and purchase state, etc is a real burden to retailers. Its no wonder they don't want to collect tax. And with the low interest rates (below 1%) there is no incentive to hold tax money to get the float interest.
I wonder how much longer this "no tax" situation will continue. I'm afraid that this year the physical retail locations (ie Walmart, Kmart, Sears, JCPenny, etc) will take a hit on sales that were done online to online only retailers to beat tax. Then they will start to complain.
In the beginning,(aka just 5 or 6 years ago) tax free online shopping was a hot topic, but the sales were so small, no one complained about the loss of tax revenue, and the topic dropped off the radar. With all the talk about federal tax raises, I'm sure the state tax issue will raise its head again.
I hope the internet stays tax free.
Yes, I am aware that I am supposed to report and pay taxes on "out of state" purchases on the state tax return. But until they come knocking on my door, I have made no out of state purchases.
D) when I am physically there.
