New UNCONSTITUTIONAL state sales taxes on the Internet.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Last time someone told an American that they could tax them without being physically present, we threw a bunch of tea in a harbor, and we picked up guns and shot people.

originally posted by: Archivalist
Last time someone told an American that they could tax them without being physically present...

Not really the same thing.

a reply to: neo96

Who BUYS porn, when it's free?

Well, For what's it worth I did a bit of digging on the internet and decided to ask the Iowa dep of Revenue my question.

And they sent me here.

Request for Tax Guidence.

So now I imagine this is causing a case of indigestion for some low level tax collectors and lawyers at present. Will let you know if I get an answer or not.

We bought over $1,000 in fruit trees this year on ebay and ebay collected around $100 in tax.

I'm wondering where that tax money actually is, considering fruit trees sales in CA are tax-exempt, regardless online, inperson, etc.

The excuse used to be ask the seller for a refund, but that is not the case anymore since for most states, Ebay is already collecting the tax already and supposedly forwarding it all to the appropriate states.

Is eBay pocketing the tax it collection for all sorts of non-taxable items? When people ask (ie on community.ebay.com...) ebay seems to tell people to apply for tax exempt buyer status, but that is erroneous because it is not the buyer that is necessarily tax exempty, but the tax-exempt merchandise itself.

It might be a huge tax conspiracy that will not be addressed until decades later via class action or something, at this rate!

originally posted by: ntech
The problem is this clause in Article 1 sec. 10 of the US Constitution.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

The other side of the problem is that the states are starting to collect sales taxes on internet purchases now. Link to Ebay tax collection policy

And that would apparently violate this clause of the Constitution. So I would ask the question. If the state are not supposed to keep the revenue raised by taxes on imported goods then WHY ARE THEY COLLECTING IT?

And keeping the revenue raised by such taxes is a Federal Power?

Didn't anyone realize that the citizens of the US have the right to state tax free imported goods?

Throw that crap into boston harbor!!!

ironically, a lot of second-hand items are tax exempt in many/most states, since sales tax was already paid on them at least once, yet the main place they're being blanket-taxed now is eBay, which is practically synonymous with used goods pawning.

there's so many pieces of non-taxable used clothes/accessories I bought on ebay, and all were taxed and I can't do anything about getting it refunded because ebay completely makes believe non-taxable don't exist so far. I saw how they just deflect the issue back to tax exempt buyers which is a separate issue. ebay probably sees it as the potential to make a second 10% off the buyer for non-taxables, since they make 10% in commission already from the seller.

not a fan of amazon but wonder if they are getting away with collection tax on non-taxables too?