Is Ebay going to Pull Sales Taxes on Everyone's Sales?

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by fretboard, Sep 7, 2019.

  1. Good Cents

    Good Cents Well-Known Member

    I posted the link in reply to your saying bullion wasn't taxable in Ohio.

    Re "Double Taxation": Loads of things are double taxed and triple taxed and that's just how it is. When you buy things you pay "Sales & Use" taxes, when you sell things you pay "Income" taxes. It's just the way it goes. Governments provide a lot for us that we take for granted and our taxes go to pay for all of it. Governments are also notorious for wasting and even abusing a lot of our tax money. But at the end of the day, I still believe we are better off than we were 500+ years ago and during the past few thousand years when you literally had to give your last bit of food grown or goat raised to the corrupt tax collector who would jail you without due process if he didn't like the way you looked at him. On the whole we've come a long way since then. And you know what they say about Death and Taxes. Not to mention, who said life is supposed to be fair?

    Re the differences in states taxes: I'm sure you know that the "United States" is a Constitutional Republic made up of 50 states that are each independent states, even while being part of the greater Republic of the United States. Each state can set its own laws however it wants, provided it does not go against Federal Laws which are set forth by our Federal Government and which must follow and cannot be contrary to The Constitution of the USA and which are interpreted by the USA Supreme Court when cases come before them. As an example, it is legal for minors to get married with parental consent at different ages in different states, because age of marriage is under the jurisdiction of each state. Each state can be compared to it's own little "Minor Country" within the greater Country of the United States. Thankfully we don't need passports and to go through border patrol to travel between states. In Europe, before the European Union was created, passports were needed and people had to go through border patrol to travel between countries with smaller populations than some of our states.

    I'm sure you also know that 37 of the 50 states joined the United States in different years along the way in our 250 year history, and that each state has different needs based on how it is different in various ways. As an example, there are states that have small populations but some big businesses have a lot of agriculturally based interests there and the state may have decided that it's better to collect tax revenue for the state by taxing those businesses rather than taxing their very few retail consumers or individuals. So there are lots of different ways to set up HOW things are taxed and each state and jurisdiction figures it out for itself based upon lots of varying factors based upon what works best for them. Some states have Income taxes, others don't. And in relation to this thread, some states (5 to be exact) don't have Sales Taxes.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
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  3. Good Cents

    Good Cents Well-Known Member

    The Tax Poem

    by Author Unknown

    Tax his land, tax his wage,
    Tax his bed in which he lays.
    Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
    Teach him taxes is the rule.

    Tax his cow, tax his goat,
    Tax his pants, tax his coat.
    Tax his ties, tax his shirts,
    Tax his work, tax his dirt.

    Tax his chew, tax his smoke,
    Teach him taxes are no joke.
    Tax his car, tax his grass,
    Tax the roads he must pass.

    Tax his food, tax his drink,
    Tax him if he tries to think.
    Tax his sodas, tax his beers,
    If he cries, tax his tears.

    Tax his bills, tax his gas,
    Tax his notes, tax his cash.
    Tax him good and let him know
    That after taxes, he has no dough.

    If he hollers, tax him more,
    Tax him until he’s good and sore.
    Tax his coffin, tax his grave,
    Tax the sod in which he lays.

    Put these words upon his tomb,
    "Taxes drove me to my doom!"
    And when he’s gone, we won’t relax,
    We’ll still be after the inheritance tax.


    This poem is presumed to be in the public domain;
    no copyright or credit information can be found.
     
    Hookman likes this.
  4. Good Cents

    Good Cents Well-Known Member

    Madeline,

    You're welcome. I'm glad you found the information helpful.

    Many of us had collectibles that were much more valuable before eBay and then over 10 years their value dropped by 99%. It's hard to accept but it is what it is. Things change. At least it wasn't due to war or other bad circumstances. Same goes for what the kids today appreciate, value, collect, etc. We now live in a disposable and digitized world. Kids wouldn't be able to understand how we used to value and listen to our records, and lots more about how we grew up. But things will also change for THEM in the next 50 years. And there were lots of things our parents bemoaned that we did not understand about how their lives were and how we didn't value the things that they did. It's how the world has worked since time immemorial, except that the changes are a lot faster in the past 250 years than the past 2,500 years. Imagine how people felt about their kids valuing books from a printing press over their father's painstakingly hand-written scrolls that took years to write. And so it goes...


     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
  5. Good Cents

    Good Cents Well-Known Member

  6. Player11

    Player11 Bullish

    I live in Texas where coins are exempt. At this point in time it has not affected me.

    If eBay collects sales tax from me (say some other state) - a non controllable and simply another factor in the item cost / markup equation for me.
     
  7. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    As always it's not quite that simple...

    https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/publ...c=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=34&pt=1&ch=3&rl=336

    34 1 3 O (e)

    You can sell 20 gold krugerrands tax-free and then buy a Ford focus, but you pay the sales tax on the car.

    You can't trade the dealer the 20 gold krugerrands thinking he can sell them tax-free and escape the sales tax.
     
  8. Paul M.

    Paul M. Well-Known Member

    Wouldn’t that all hinge on “where”, legally, the sale took place?

    Let’s add another wrinkle to the scenario: say your NY seller ships the item from a warehouse in NH (0% tax). How does that work out?

    In a physical transaction, it’s easy to say where the sale took place: it’s where the money changed hands. If I’m a FL resident and buy a coin in NY on vacation, I’m technically required to report that to the state of FL, and remit the additional 2%. Conversely, as a NY resident on vacation in FL, I pay FL’s full amount and get to deduct the difference between what I paid in FL and what I would have paid in NY on my state taxes.

    It’s all ridiculously complicated, and people deal with it by just not reporting these types of things. But, with online sales, since the accounting is much easier for online sales, I can see people actually taking those types of deductions. In fact, IMO, large internet retailers should be required to provide a report at EOY detailing how much sales tax you paid and to where.
     
  9. justafarmer

    justafarmer Senior Member

    This wrinkle doesn't change the sourcing of the sale - it is sourced to the state where the good are shipped (where the buyer takes possession and control of the merchandise).
     
    Good Cents likes this.
  10. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    You're overcomplicating things.

    Wayfair allows a state to impose sales tax on a buyer within the state where there is not a traditional Nexus.

    Existing state law covered the case where the buber & seller were the both within the state. And also the responsibility of the buyer to pay use tax.

    The wayfair derived laws impose a duty on eBay as the facilitator (and an incentive not to be classed as they buyer or seller). That's why their big fat fingers are in the mix.

    The issue of imposing sales tax on a seller within the state is purely an issue of existing state law. You already have the Nexus.
     
    Good Cents likes this.
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