OT: ebay and taxes

[rcnute]

Just got this. F__ you, ebay.

Ryan

Dear Ryan,
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced their decision on the S. Dakota v. Wayfair case, overturning the long-standing rule that states could not tax businesses or sellers outside of their borders. Now is the time for Congress to act on legislation that protects small businesses.
And we need your help.
Please consider signing our petition to show our country's political leaders that these new Internet tax burdens could permanently damage U.S. small businesses. The petition takes less than a minute to complete. We will soon deliver this petition to President Trump, key members of Congress, and select state governors, so we need you to participate now.
eBay has always supported tax policy that is fair to entrepreneurs, artisans, and small businesses. Rest assured that eBay will continue to fight this battle on behalf of all of our valued customers.
Sincerely,

eBay

[SoCalSteve]

Just got this. F__ you, ebay.

Ryan

Dear Ryan,
The U.S. Supreme Court has announced their decision on the S. Dakota v. Wayfair case, overturning the long-standing rule that states could not tax businesses or sellers outside of their borders. Now is the time for Congress to act on legislation that protects small businesses.
And we need your help.
Please consider signing our petition to show our country's political leaders that these new Internet tax burdens could permanently damage U.S. small businesses. The petition takes less than a minute to complete. We will soon deliver this petition to President Trump, key members of Congress, and select state governors, so we need you to participate now.
eBay has always supported tax policy that is fair to entrepreneurs, artisans, and small businesses. Rest assured that eBay will continue to fight this battle on behalf of all of our valued customers.
Sincerely,

eBay

I’m curious why you say this. Do you want to pay sales tax to a local city and/or state government that you don’t live in on every purchase you make on the internet?

[DuddyJ]

I guess its time to only buy things in Oregon.

[FriarQuade]

As a small business who sells a good portion of our goods direct to consumer through the internet, this has the potential to be a giant burden. If we have to figure sales tax for every domestic order that's going to suck. There is already software for this kind of thing but it's not cheap and it doesn't help send all the checks. If you have to figure it for counties and cities then the complexity balloons into a hot mess in a hurry.

What could be a lot easier for the business is a common internet sales tax fund. It could be flat across the board and get paid to a single government entity. Regardless of where the business is located or where the order was shipped the tax rate is the same. What they do with it after that is of no concern to me as a business owner.

Of course as an Oregonian the whole notion of sales tax is a bit foreign to me.

[rcnute]

I’m curious why you say this. Do you want to pay sales tax to a local city and/or state government that you don’t live in on every purchase you make on the internet?

No, I wouldn't want to do that. But that's not the situation, which involves whether a state can collect sales tax on stuff sold by an out of state company.

More offensive to me than the belief that Internet sales deserve special tax treatment are the misleading scare tactics ebay is employing to get its way.

Ryan

[rcnute]

As a small business who sells a good portion of our goods direct to consumer through the internet, this has the potential to be a giant burden. If we have to figure sales tax for every domestic order that's going to suck. There is already software for this kind of thing but it's not cheap and it doesn't help send all the checks. If you have to figure it for counties and cities then the complexity balloons into a hot mess in a hurry.

What could be a lot easier for the business is a common internet sales tax fund. It could be flat across the board and get paid to a single government entity. Regardless of where the business is located or where the order was shipped the tax rate is the same. What they do with it after that is of no concern to me as a business owner.

Of course as an Oregonian the whole notion of sales tax is a bit foreign to me.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamlined_Sales_Tax_Project

Ryan

[sg8357]

What could be a lot easier for the business is a common internet sales tax fund. It could be flat across the board and get paid to a single government entity.

How do feel about a State Internet Tax, each State sets a rate.
And like you suggest have single entity collect and send the taxes
on to the state. The state could then figure out ways of getting the
dollars down to smaller entities.

[Ralph]

Maybe I don't understand. if a retail business in my state (say at Disney property), sells things to tourists who come from all over the USA, and collects a Florida sales tax on the spot.....it keeps that tax for the state of Florida.

But if I set up an E business in my state, sell things to people all over the USA, and charge them sales tax.....are we saying because my business is an Internet business.....I've got to send the collected tax money back to each state where my customer resides? And also maybe collect a different amount from each customer....since state taxes differ.

Maybe I have this wrong....it doesn't make sense. I'm not against taxing E sales, to level the playing field with bricks and mortar business who collect sales taxes, but how do you do that fairly?

[FriarQuade]

How do feel about a State Internet Tax, each State sets a rate.
And like you suggest have single entity collect and send the taxes
on to the state. The state could then figure out ways of getting the
dollars down to smaller entities.

Are you talking about a internet tax on outgoing business or incoming? As long as I don't have to pay taxes in every burg in America I don't really care.

Maybe I don't understand. if a retail business in my state (say at Disney property), sells things to tourists who come from all over the USA, and collects a Florida sales tax on the spot.....it keeps that tax for the state of Florida.

But if I set up an E business in my state, sell things to people all over the USA, and charge them sales tax.....are we saying because my business is an Internet business.....I've got to send the collected tax money back to each state where my customer resides? And also maybe collect a different amount from each customer....since state taxes differ.

Maybe I have this wrong....it doesn't make sense. I'm not against taxing E sales, to level the playing field with bricks and motor business who collect sales taxes, but how do you do that fairly?

This does seem like a better option honestly and mimics the long standing method of sales tax. Cities could choose to collect zero or low outgoing e-tax to attract the jobs that would come with those kinds of businesses. It doesn't do anything to protect your local business though.


Maybe we could put the burden on the banks to track e-commerce transactions, issue a tax form at the end of the year to the account holder to then be figured into year end taxes for each household. They already do similar things and it puts the burden on people that already push around an excessive amount of paper.

[pbarry]

Maybe I don't understand. if a retail business in my state (say at Disney property), sells things to tourists who come from all over the USA, and collects a Florida sales tax on the spot.....it keeps that tax for the state of Florida.

But if I set up an E business in my state, sell things to people all over the USA, and charge them sales tax.....are we saying because my business is an Internet business.....I've got to send the collected tax money back to each state where my customer resides? And also maybe collect a different amount from each customer....since state taxes differ.

Maybe I have this wrong....it doesn't make sense. I'm not against taxing E sales, to level the playing field with bricks and mortar business who collect sales taxes, but how do you do that fairly?

That's the gist of what I've read today. This will play out for awhile.. eBay is nervous cause it will hurt their sales and they don't want to add payroll/more accountants and software to figure out the numbers.

[oldpotatoe]

One word, barter. And doesn’t apply to private sales to individuals as I read it( am I wrong?).

[Llewellyn]

This is why we got rid of Sales Tax and replaced it with a GST.

[pbarry]

This is why we got rid of Sales Tax and replaced it with a GST.

Crazy talk. ;)

[paredown]

This is why we got rid of Sales Tax and replaced it with a GST.

Canada went one better--a GST and Provincial sales taxes...except for those Provinces where it is combined (HST).

[bobdenver1961]

My vote is to work to make government smaller (yeah right) so that they don't need all this sales tax coming in so that they can waste it.

[nickl]

My vote is to work to make government smaller (yeah right) so that they don't need all this sales tax coming in so that they can waste it.

In many ways government is smaller. There are fewer non-military government workers per capita than in the past.

If you want to reduce spend keep lobbyists away from congress and state houses and curb unlimited campaign contributions that special interests and other fat cats use to influence politicians.

The way it currently works federal and state legislatures pride themselves in cutting income taxes that disproportionately benefit the top 5%. The difference is made up by increasing sales and other taxes that impact other groups.

[nickl]

In many ways government is smaller. There are fewer non-military government workers per capita than in the past.

If you want to reduce spend keep lobbyists away from congress and state houses and curb unlimited campaign contributions that special interests and other fat cats use to influence politicians.

The way it currently works federal and state legislatures pride themselves in cutting income taxes that disproportionately benefit the top 5%. The difference is made up by increasing sales and other taxes that impact other groups.

Correction. The majority of income tax cuts are focused on the top 1 or 2% of earners. And many of them already pay a lower marginal rate than a middle class wage earner.

Warren Buffett once stated that the percentage he paid in income taxes was lower than his office receptionist’s rate.