Wow. Really? Seriously?
Come on… Really? :headbang
Someone has to pay for our government officials to have 1000’s of dollars worth of sex with hookers a week
thats because he was BORN IN WEALTH> elliot spitzer… daddy is a rich NYC real estate tycoon. and hes was a big lawyer… thats where his money is from
It’s called unconstitutional and hopefully someone has the balls to challenge it.
Negative. If my political science classes are worth their money internet sales are a bit of a grey zone. The constitution doesn’t define anything relating to this issue, the only thing that comes close is 1 or maybe 2 supreme court cases. Supreme court decisions are far from the constitution.
I believe my girlfriend said that they cannot tax you if the institution does not have a physical presence in NY. NewEgg does not. However, they have advertisements on other places (including websites) that are in NY. I guess that’s what NY is trying to pull. I’ll ask her to clarify as I probably butchered what she said but given her speciality is tax law for major corporations, I assume she knows what she is talking about. Then again, she is sometimes a silly girl. 
I still really would like a dumb down version of some sort of justication on how I should be paying NY tax on something I am buying from California. That makes NO sense to me at all.
We paid over $50K in taxes this year. I am really fucking tired of it.
Please show me in the US Constitution where it says state and local governments cannot collect sales tax on goods purchased by its residents.
Sales tax is structured based on how much the government assumes its residents will purchase. That assumed number is not accurate because people can avoid sales tax by purchasing items online. So, the solution is, to maintain the same level of revenue, raise in-state sales tax, or tax the goods people buy online outside of NYS.
Hi this is Shawn’s girlfriend, the attorney
State taxing authorities must abide by the commerce clause of the US Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The “Dormant” Commerce Clause, also known as the “Negative” Commerce Clause, is a legal doctrine that courts in the United States have inferred from the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Commerce Clause expressly grants Congress the power to enact legislation that affects interstate commerce. The idea behind the Dormant Commerce Clause is that this grant of power implies a negative converse — a restriction prohibiting a state from passing legislation that improperly burdens or discriminates against interstate commerce. There is a Supreme Court Decision, Complete Auto Transit, that says that a state cannot levy a sales tax unless the taxpayer is physically present in the state. That means, that the company has employees, offices, server equipment, storage space, etc. in the state. Therefore, New York cannot require a company to collect and remit sals tax on New York residents unless the company has a physical presence in the state. Amazon has no offices or employees in the state. The tax is being levied based on the theory that since Amazon has contracts with other websites that are based in New York, that gives Amazon a physical presence in New York-basically, a website that has sales tax nexus in NY that allows its customers to link directly to Amazon to buy products. Since the tax seemingly violates the commerce clause and the Complete Auto Transit doctrine, it is being challenged for its constitutionality.
I had to read that bullshit like 2 or 3 times…
Listen, the Federal Government was established (in large part) to deal with interstate commerce.
What Shawn’s girlfriend is explaining is that in order for New York State to lawfully tax an internet goods supplier, they have to have a physical presence in the state of New York. New York is trying to circumvent that by saying that (essentially) if anyone that an Internet goods supplier is affiliated with has a physical presence in New York then that supplier is liable for sales tax.
In other words, you’re not a drug dealer but your brother’s friend is. You don’t do drugs or deal with this guy, but he bought you a slice of pizza one time. That means you have benefited from the drug trade, since that slice was (potentially) bought with drug money.
Therefore, New York State will surgically insert a mind probe up your ass and you will be liable any time that probe is detected to have broken local traffic laws via a complex but very tiny Inertial Navigation System which operates by laser-gyroscope.
Savvy?