In case living in New York wasn’t already expensive enough, state lawmakers passed the “Amazon Tax” bill this week, which will require online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even when they don’t have physical operations there.
New York-based retailers have argued for years that the Amazon loophole gives out-of-state online shopping centers an unfair advantage. Technically, consumers are supposed to report purchases they make online on their tax returns, but virtually nobody does it and enforcement is impossible.
The bill still needs a signature from Governor David Paterson to officially become law, but he’s widely expected to OK it. The state government expects the new requirement to generate about $50 million in revenue this fiscal year.
Yeah, but no-one does anyway, and there is really no way to enforce it.
But if that bill passes it will suck something fierce. Afaik it hasn’t happened yet because it would interfere with interstate commerce, which is regulated federally.
Suppose it could get canned, but who knows. I sure as hell don’t want to pay tax on my online purchases, it’s enough you get raped on shipping most of the time.
Don’t forget the 1.25$ tax increase [i] per pack of cigarettes. In the best of cases thats a 20% tax increase, in the worst, it’s nearly a 50% tax. (depending on the brand).
The amazon tax is an outrage. Especially considering we will be the only state that carries it IIRC.
Not only does this really suck for NY shoppers, its just as bad for online merchants that now lose all their advantage over brick/mortar stores AND now they have to file all that sales tax back to NY.
It’s bad for consumers looking to save a few bucks - but levels the playing field for local business. I don’t mind seeing the tax go into effect…If 8% is going to prevent me from buying something I probably shouldn’t be spending that money in the first place. This will probably go into effect everywhere soon as the smaller businesses stand to gain a lot.
this country is going to shit… everything is really starting to fuckin suck lately!! Every fuckin politition is crooked as hell and again… everything has been really shitty lately… I’m moving to Europe or something, lol!
Think about it people. Big war draining money, economy going to shit, etc… This makes perfect sense and I wouldn’t be surprised if they passed similiar shit. The Gov’t wants their money. Think of the trickle down effect. You think local Gov’t isn’t effected either? Expect more ticket revenue.
God, I fucking hate you. I just thought of the $50K+ taxes we gave the Gov’t this year. Friggin bullshit.
I’m with you, I think this is actually a step in the right direction. It’s not an unfair tax, it’s fixing a loophole that was not a problem until the internet gained a lot of steam, solutions like this don’t sprout up over night and it may take a few changes until it’s right but I’m sure other states will be following the lead. The best news is that after this “new” tax is up and running it will be much easier to implement the proposed fair tax which I am a big fan of.
I do a lot of my shopping on Amazon and have no complaints about this, I am thankful for the tax savings I’ve already seen and knew eventually it had to end.
Its a fucking rediculous proposal… I’m baffled at the people on here that are ok with it??? WTF is the matter with you? Property tax alone in NYS (esp schen county) is enough to deem all other taxes unfair/not needed. I think its retarded, I don’t see how they can impose that. Amazon isn’t selling to you from NY!
The company I work for is going through a 3 year audit. It sucks and is very time consuming. Most of the problem on our end was ignorance due to the exemptions being so complex i.e. towing/repairs on semis are exempt, but not box trucks. hauling a machine on a lowboy is exempt, but not by flatbed. etc etc. We’ll be ok though since most of our work is wholesale to repair shops and dealers. It just was such a pain in the ass scrambling to collect exemption certificates from over a 1000 accounts. Larger auto clubs like AAA, Cross Country, GEICO, etc have to pay tax in NY but refuse to on our invoices so we get stuck with covering the tax.
The way it works is in e-commerce, the retailers who do not have a physical presence (i.e. - a brick and mortar store or sales dealer) in the state are exempt from paying tax to that state in online transactions. Under the “honor system” it’s the consumer who is supposed to report it. Obviously, most people don’t even know about it, and those that do don’t bother. But since amazon also
now uses referred seller (merchants on amazon that sell through amazon but are not part of it) and some of whom located within the state, that qualifies as agents of amazon inside the state - i.e “physical presence”. That’s the story in a nutshell. It seems that the bill will include other online retailers besides amazon as well, the title is a bit misleading. I don’t see how they could enforce this with private sellers like craigslist or ebay, but again, who knows. It’s a lot of tax money that they feel they’re missing out on, and they want it.
Ok, so now, not only do I have to pay 9.25% sales tax in Oneida County (THE HIGHEST IN NYS!!), which is my closest shopping areas… no I gotta pay tax for my online purchases… This is bullshit!!
