Taxing Coin Sales: A Bureaucratic Nightmare In The Making?

http://www.coinweek.com/bullion-report/a-bureaucratic-nightmare-in-the-making/

 

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Move to Texas......that's where I'm going (eventually).

 

This issue isn't about coins. It's about state's rights to levy taxes on sales. This should be in GD, not bullion.

Edit: Apparently, it doesn't even belong in GD. It belongs in party lines or whatever the political forum is called.

Edit 2: partisanlines

 

I'm no fan of paying taxes. OTOH, local businesses are at a disadvantage when buyers check out that 55" flat screen TV on display in their local store then
buy it from Amazon to avoid paying local sales tax. Originally, the internet sales tax holiday was supposed to last a couple of years to give the new i businesses
a chance to get established. However, Amazon and other onlines businesses realized they have a tremendous advantage over brick and mortar stores so they spent millions on lobbyist who managed to get the tax exempt laws extended. Of course, our politicians sucked up the money and changed the law.
BTW, all purchasers buying over the internet are legally obligated to voluntarily pay local sales taxes in their home states.

 

Yes, but they are called Use Taxes. No one pays them, though, and you risk ticking off local voters if you try to enforce these laws for every tiny purchase. This is why they are going after the sellers, they do not care if they PO them.

The "problem" with an internet sales tax is the Constitution. Minnesota does not have the right to make someone in Florida register and collect taxes for them. The only way around this "problem" is have the national government require collection of taxes, and they pass them along to the states.

Btw, just so people know, the biggest headache for sellers would not be collecting ONE tax from a state and remitting it. It would be putting up with all of the registration, tax forms, different deadlines, VERY different rules from state to state, etc. Bottom line, having to deal with all of the governments is the REAL issue. There are literally thousands of effective tax rates, with thousands of variances as to what is subject to tax, throughout this country. I am sure if there was only ONE set of rules, and ONE rate per state that would need to be collected, and no extensive registration required per jurisdiction, then most firms would not have an issue charging and mailing in sales taxes. Its the unbelievable bureaucracy in Sales and Use taxes that 99.9% of the population is unaware of that is the issue. Its TRULY brutal. I did it for about a year, overseeing 20 states, and swore to myself never again.

 

Great! Scrap the 16th Amendment (direct taxation) and institute the "Fair Tax"...solves more problems than you can imagine!!!

 

The *******s need to be impeached

 

There is no and never has been a special exemption or sales tax holiday for internet sales. It all hinges on a Supreme Court Ruling and the requirments of establishing nexus handed down in Quill vs North Dakota back in the early 1990s.

 

How was sales tax handled in the pre-internet mail order days. After all, isn't the internet nothing more than an electronic catalog for online aka mail order companies.

 

Not much different than it is being handled now. Keep in mind sales tax is not a tax imposed on the retailer it is imposed on the buyer. The States use their authority over the retailer to serve as a tax collecting agent for the state. Much the same authority utilized by the US Government and State Governments to force employers to collect income tax through payroll withholding.

 

One could argue that the point of sale was at the retail outlet and charge sale tax for the retailer's home state, however it would be short term with business fleeing to states with low or no sales tax. I live in a place where sales tax is near 10%. I think our local Dell distribution center would pack-up and leave if that were the case. If the bill does pass, it will be the seed of a national sales tax. Over time I think the Federal Government will want a cut on what's collected for "administrative cost" and ink it's way up from there.

 

Yes, that is the extreme danger in my mind. Politicians NEVER let go of a tax, and I simply refuse to give them a national sales tax no matter what they promise. Always remember that the politicians PROMISED in 1913 only 1% of all Americans, 9sound familiar?) would EVER be subject to income taxes. Ten years later 98% of all Americans were required to file 1040's.

 

My understanding is the US Government will not be administrating anything. That will fall to the states who have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. Only sales into states which have adopted this agreement will be subject to the collection of taxes. Now don't misunderstand all retailers who met the minimum sales amount located in any of the 50 states will be required to collect the tax but only for sales made into the states that have adopted the agreement.

I hope I haven't confused people.

 

I'm not a Farmer, but I "think" I followed it. ...and that's how the law is written. However, as problems and inequities are uncovered/discovered, the Federal Government may step in to regulate it under the Commerce Clause.

I don't have a problem with a National Sales Tax...as long as it REPLACES the Income Tax (16th Amendment rescinded). For anyone serious about "fixing" the economy and restoring America...that's the way to go! :thumb:

 

I would also be for a Federal Sales tax. No loop holes. You buy it, you get taxed. Simple