Internet Sales Tax coming to NY

[Duke{CLR}]

I'm sure other states will follow soon. I will still buy online because the selection and the cost of the items are much better.

http://wcbstv.com/technology/ny.inte....2.707820.html

[Rand{CLR}]

That'll be in court tomorrow, if it isn't already. If the Federal government can't mandate internet taxes, the states certainly can't.

-Rand

[mapes]

Write up from Tech dirt

The New York Times reports that the state of New York is demanding that Amazon and other e-tailers begin collecting sales taxes from customers in the state by June 1 or face audits and bills for unpaid taxes. Under federal law, a state can only require a business to collect sales taxes for it if the business has a physical presence in that state. So Amazon collects sales taxes in Washington state, where it has its headquarters, but not in most other states, including New York. But New York has hit upon a novel legal theory: Amazon might not have a physical presence in New York, but many of Amazon's affiliates do, and New York argues that those affiliates constitute a "physical presence" sufficient to require Amazon to collect taxes for the state. It's a novel theory, and one that Amazon will almost certainly challenge in court. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Amazon's affiliates are essentially selling Amazon advertising space on their websites. They're not employees of Amazon any more than I become an employee of any site that purchases advertising space on my blog. If New York's interpretation is accepted by the courts, it would spawn endless litigation about which types of relationships establish a "physical presence." There's also a good chance Amazon would just cut off New York residents from participating in the affiliates program to save itself the headache of potentially having to comply with thousands of different taxing jurisdictions. Either way, nothing good is going to come from this.

[Duke{CLR}]

It will be interesting to watch. Maybe if Amazon stops selling to New Yorkers then they will "Remember in November" and boot those responsible to the curb.

[Trooper110]

Do politicians honestly think they can get away with this kind of crap? Or are they just trying to rock the boat a little bit?

They'll be awfully sorry in 15 years when we live in the United States of Google

[Apache Warrior]

Do politicians honestly think they can get away with this kind of crap? Or are they just trying to rock the boat a little bit?

They'll be awfully sorry in 15 years when we live in the United States of Google

Of course they think they can get away with it. They have been getting away with it for a looooong time.
Apache

[Devilguns]

I'll just add that to the list of reasons I want to leave NY. I bought my house almost 6 years ago. My taxes have gone up nearly $2,000. I just received another $1,100 increase in taxes this week, it's getting ridiculous.

[Hammy]

California has already been doing this on all purchases that originate in California.
It's been that way as far back as 1997.

So all I do is purchase from out of state.

Inter-state Commerce laws apply. You cannot be charged sales-tax for purchases that originate out of state. They can demand all that they want, but they cannot charge you sales-tax on something you bought in Utah via phone or internet, while you live in California.

It's not going to fly if that is what this is suggesting.
If it is a simple principle of origination and destination being in the same State, then the commerce laws of that state do apply, including State and Local taxation.

[-IRC-MIKE]

If the person or business you purchase your product from over the internet has a credit card machine, they can just run your numbers and mail you the product. Doing so would be as if you travelled to the retailer's premise and swiped your card. That is what it is going to come to. These Commerce websites that use PHP and ASP commerce will be the ones who take the biggest hit as they usually don't run the credit card numbers. Instead they have an account with a bank that handles the transactions.

The larger GIANT retailers will be the main ones to suffer. Most small retailers will have a credit card machine for these types of transactions and will evade these new tax hikes unless the credit card machine companies start putting the hammer down.