*DAMN R6 Forum

Not sure how I feel on this.



http://money.cnn.com/2004/02/25/commentary/wastler/wastler/index.htm?cnn=yes


A gaff:

>>>
But now states and local governments facing budget shortfalls really, really need the money. And Internet sales... that's serious money.

According to comScore Networks, online sales totaled $52 billion last year. Now, suppose those sales were hit with an average 6 percent sales tax. That'd be $3.12 billion. Divvy it between 50 states and you got $62 million apiece. A drop in the bucket, sure, but enough for a few school books or fire trucks or street signs.

Of course, tax rates and bases are different from state to state. And some online retailers, ones that also operate bricks and mortar stores, already collect sales tax. But you get the idea. It's not chump change.

"It's a lot of money that's not being collected and states are starting to do what they can to collect it," said Alysoun McLaughlin of the National Association of Counties.

The 19  states making the first stab are adding a line to their income tax returns asking tax payers to 'fess up to what they bought on the Net (or through a catalog, for that matter) and to pay the sales tax due. If you don't have the receipts handy, they'll just take a likely amount based on your income.
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What do you guys think of this?

I'm torn between the my inclination to "tax everything" and my enjoyment at ripping off the state of California by buying, say, my new paintgun from Alabama. And do I volunteer to pay up? Noooo, no, noooo, no, no.

NO!  Taxes are inherantly EVIL!!!

I agree.

I'd rather lose a street sign here and there than have to pay money for internet tax.

The state i live in already has added out of state (internet) sales tax on the income taxes here in NC.. But you fill it in yourself (and i hope they dont audit me!!!) so you can say non.

Taxes aren't inherently evil, but this is a bad idea. The internet should remain unregulated by the governments of any country, state, locality, or agency. That's what makes the internet cool, the freedom. Soon they'll probably be regulating speech and content and taxing websites? sigh.

There are nasty bits of news floating around also of an attempt to somehow tax/charge for the use of IPphones - ie like netfone, kdx etc...

There is a difference between regulating the Internet and regulating sales over the Internet. I wouldn't have any problems with people charging sales tax for sales made over the internet. The only problem I see is in the logistics. If you do it by where the seller is based, all sellers will put a shipping offices in the states with the lowest tax rates. This leaves calculating it based on where the buyer is, which seems pretty fair to me. The only problem then is what to do when international buyers buy from American sellers, but I have no clue how this is handled normally, so I won't comment about this with regards to Internet sales.

I think the whole thing would be to big to organise, and to hard to regulate and put in place.. not to mention the unholy stink that people would put up against it

spam sucks more than taxes sixhits

I have little trouble with Spam. I'm blessed, so far.

And I like taxes. I enjoy seeing where my money goes. Everytime I get in my car I say, "fuck you state of California - why do my roads suck so much?" and then I flick off the guy with the Bush/Cheny sticker.

But I really do like taxes. I'm what would be called a "tax and spend" democrat.

yeah i can see you have no problem with spam,
****looks at all of sixhit's topics on the forum****

Jewb, read the article. This addresses online sales, not spam.

i'm talking about sixhit's topic spamming

Heheh.

New developments:

States Bent on Collecting Internet Taxes - Yahoo! News? (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=2&u=/ap/20040304/ap_on_hi_te/internet_sales_tax_7)

Here's my decision. A Federal Sales Tax on all internet sales. Monies are solely earmarked for education and homeland security.

Flat rate of 3%

Fuck the states.

Homeland security?

I should be more clear: firetrucks and firefighters.

They've been getting shit from Federal funds. They hate Bush soooooooo much. Dude propagandizes on their buddies' deaths and cuts their funding.

Ahh cool, yep you had me worried for a moment there...

America having a National Health Service wouldn't be a bad thing either... Why should people with a lot more money get better health care...