Sales tax on out of state purchases

[OldShooter]

There is an unstated subtheme to many of our comments here. It has to do with how we view taxation.

At one extreme, people view paying taxes as a moral obligation, to pay for beneficial and necessary government activities and, implied, that all government activities fall into this category.

At the other extreme, some of us view taxation as more of a game as described by Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the 19th century: "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing."

Of course, both views apply. There are plenty of government activities that I am happy to pay for but there are many that I am not. Ones I resist paying for include sports stadiums built as gifts to already-rich owners, light rail systems costing wildly more than equally-effective dedicated busways, and vast subsidies to people who have the money to purchase an adequate number of congresscritters.

So, bottom line, I feel no moral obligation to voluntarily contribute "use tax" to a system in which waste and corruption are endemic. These are tiny amounts of money, of course, but I still feel that the money is better used from my pocket than from the politicians' pockets.

Oops. Now the thread is more political, I suppose. Sorry, but I think the post is germane. Mods, delete if you so choose.

 

[Independent]

Remote online businesses and brick and mortar DO have different business models. Having remote sellers collect sales tax does not "level the playing field" since the rest of their cost structures and tactics are so different.

If you are selling remotely with limited to no physical presence in the state you have disadvantages over local retailers who have goods on hand to be examined and purchased right now. Advantages also, but focusing on tax collection as the big difference misses the point, IMHO.

And if you notice, brick and mortar retailers can at any time close their stores and go 100% digital to get the same "advantages" but they do not do this. Instead they do both: bricks and clicks.

Also, if you notice, Amazon is increasing its physical presence in states and why? To grow into new product lines and get inventory closer to the end customer. Which is exactly what brick and mortar retailers do.

Now that states have a way to force collection of sales/use tax, presumably they will be able to cut their tax rates right??

The point of sales tax equality is not to arrive at the same total cost in both cases.

It is to let the natural economic differences come through, so consumers make decisions on them, rather than on some artificial difference created by the tax system.

You are correct that the SC just recently overturned an earlier ruling so that states now have the option of collecting sales tax on all sales to their residents (see post #17 in this thread). The issue is whether they should use that option in the future.