Texas Legislature passes bill to collect sales tax from online retailers that operate in state

Dallas morning news.... + title

Brick-and-mortar retailers have won a battle in the Texas Legislature.

On Friday, the Senate approved a bill passed earlier by the House that defines all the ways a retailer can be considered to have a physical presence in Texas and therefore be required to collect sales tax.

The legislation was introduced after a disagreement between the Texas comptroller’s office and Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc.

In October, the state sent the online retailer a $269 million bill for uncollected sales taxes from 2004 to 2009.

Mind you this is the same comptroller whose compromised a lot of good peoples personal data through pure incompetence of the office...

Yes incompetence in office....

so I am going digging for more and viola (ATS standards are higher then other sites...

Original shot fired... 2010

DMN... 269 mil tax bill

Texas sends $269 million bill to Amazon.com for uncollected sales taxes

By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News [email protected]

Published 23 October 2010 09:48 AM
Related items

Texas has sent Amazon .com Inc. a $269 million bill for uncollected sales taxes on purchases made by state residents from the Seattle-based Internet superstore over a four-year period.

Now that Texas has gotten tough with the No. 1 online retailer, other states could be tempted to pile on with their own assessments as local governments face huge shortfalls, analysts said. Recent estimates put Texas' two-year budget shortfall at as much as $21 billion.

then

digital reader... Texas blinked

Texas Gov. Rick Perry told The Washington Examiner on Friday that Amazon won’t have to collect Sales tax for the state of Texas; he will ask the state legislature to clarify the legal issue.

This is only the latest part of an ongoing saga. Various states have been trying to get Amazon to collect sales tax for years now; I don’t think any have succeeded. But first, a little background. A retail store has to collect sales tax because they operate in a specific state. But an online operation only has collect sales tax for the state or states it has a presence in (with a coupe exceptions).

Well doesnt add up... it appears the comptrollers office is not letting go of this issue...

Well here is the kicker... and why should I worry

Let me put it this way...

reach into your wallet and then pause...

If states begin to tax more heavily when they think they can get away with it what is going to happen to your money...

that is correct it will go bye bye.... because online retailers will not be making as much money so cost goes up..

not a big deal you say... what do you think will happen to the economic eco-system if this is allowed??? How long before they go after the advertisers for taxes on services net user view.....

The greed of local officials is astounding...

I know that my state, California, is considering similar legislation. And Amazon had made similar threats to vacate the state.

One may not be a fan of government authority and/or taxation in general. But I think that it is only fair that if I have to pay taxes on my (meager) income, a major corporation like Amazon (or General Electric, which paid No federal income taxes on Billions of dollars of income) should have to pay taxes on their income.

well for me the incentive to shop online was it has always been cheaper.

not so much now.

making amazon pay 269 million dollars will bankrupt them i know they know that.

as to california another site i use is newegg which is located there.

people this is bad news the days of cheaper items bought online just may have went the way of the dinosaur.

greedy states.

reply to post by ripcontrol


This is a bit stupid of a law. I suppose we should start taxing businesses for booking a hotel room over the phone in another state. A plane ticket booked over the phone or even online. When does it stop? Should I be taxed for purchasing a vehicle in another state, because I purchased it online? The state the business has a presence in should dictate which state the tax law is controlling from. This is why we created the Federal government. To make regular commerce between states. State rights should not be allowed to double-tax. It should be either one way or the other. Most businesses have to register a business for tax reasons in a state in which they advertise in or have a presence in. The internet is everywhere though, and without federal intervention Amazon risks going out of business if every state claims a right to tax transactions where Amazon is already taxed within the state they reside. I suppose Amazon could move to Texas and avoid the double-taxation, until another state passes a similar law. This is one area that I believe the Federal government should step in to intervene.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


A distribution center in the state is an aspect of that business. It is in that state for the convenience of the retailer--meaning it saves them money! As it is, as is in any state if a business has a brick and mortor location in that state, it collects sales tax for that state. So what is the complaint? Amazon is merely skirting a technocality in the existing law that came way before the internet.

Yes, the consumer is going to pay more, but no more than if they bought from within that state as say a Barnes & Nobles book store. On-line buying from out of state has been a free ride for consumers. That ride is over.

I don't own a business and I do buy things on-line and if it has a Texas facility, I pay the tax as I would at a local store. Get over it.

Originally posted by Bhadhidar
I know that my state, California, is considering similar legislation. And Amazon had made similar threats to vacate the state.

One may not be a fan of government authority and/or taxation in general. But I think that it is only fair that if I have to pay taxes on my (meager) income, a major corporation like Amazon (or General Electric, which paid No federal income taxes on Billions of dollars of income) should have to pay taxes on their income.

Good sir I one hundred percent agree with your statement... You shouldn't have to pay it either...

I cant blame them, interstate commerce is tricky in matters of law

reply to post by neo96


The states are becoming greedy parasites...

Freedom start s when you say

All of what I earn is mine to keep!....

reply to post by ExPostFacto


I agree that this is where the federal government is supposed to intervene...

Also in this economy jobs are key not e-bites to generate votes...

All I earn is mine to keep!...

reply to post by Aliensun


Good person, how much should be paid...

Let me see...

Taxes on the personnel (fica, social security, ect)

1)make sure you include every one from the drivers to the janitors

Taxes on gas going in the trucks

Taxes on the trucks

The plates for the trucks...

Taxes on the building

taxes on the electricity

taxes on office supplies

taxes on the water

Taxes, taxes, taxes...

Did I forget any...

This is why you are broke, unnecessary burdens placed on you by parasites... pure and simple...

"The reason government can not eliminate poverty is because it is it's greatest creation"

All I earn is mine to keep!....

reply to post by Aliensun


LOL, some people i swear

they get butt-hurt every day by corrupt politicians.

but no problem, "just suck it up and keep bending over
like i do" is their idea of good advice

"may your chains rest lightly upon you..."

reply to post by ripcontrol

amazon should just download the latest Texas CAFR,
do the analysis, and publish the numbers [or threaten to do so]



www.cafr1.com...
www.cafr1.com...
www.project.nsearch.com...
CAFRs: The Biggest Secret $60 trillion invested by US government www.abovetopsecret.com...
The One Thing they will not discuss, CAFR www.abovetopsecret.com...

NYC (just the city)is siting on 2.2 trillion Dollars of investment capital (liquid assets, stocks bonds etc)
the US-gov is sitting on 64 trillion

maybe those affected should confront the comptroller and the rest of the state government with the Texas CAFR
and the money they are keeping hidden on this separate set of books.

oh they'll never admit to it,
but that 269 million dollar bill will quietly disappear if folks keep at it long enough.

This shall be interesting for all online retailers

I was always under the impression that if a retailer had a hub in a certain state, you as the consumer had to pay sales tax on that item.

For example, if I buy something from a store in Texas, but they have a warehouse in NY that they ship from, I would have to pay NYS Sales tax because I live in NY.

I'm sort of confused as to what is going on here. Are they saying Amazon wasn't charging customers sales tax? Or are they saying they want to charge customers sales tax regardless of where they live?

I think we have way too many taxes to begin with. I'm sort of in agreement with a flat tax on goods and let the people keep all their income (as we are SUPPOSED to anyway).

*Edit*

Doesn't Amazon offer regular people the option to sell stuff? Like I could have my own store in NY and sell through Amazon? So how is Texas going to deal with that?

Not good when you consider that every major retailer and those in between now relies heavily on Internet commerce. They are always looking for a new angle for revenue growth. How about some serious spending cuts from the top down!!! Especially California.

If this happens across the nation... the market will simply adapt...and people will probably end up spending less because there will be no tax free incentive. That's good for the economy right??? I understand all sides of the paradigm however, why can't the citizenry enact tough spending cuts on those who we have placed into positions of authority??

Not surprised. Texas is one of the most tax heavy states I have ever lived in. Only PA was worse. Sure they don't have a income tax, but they sure make up for that with fees and taxes on everything else. I currently pay more in property tax/sales tax than I have ever paid in federal income tax.

So Amazon has to pay a sales tax.

They had a distribution center in Texas. That is a physical presence, according to the Supreme Court.


What exactly is the issue here?


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by ripcontrol


The pulled this crap in my state too. Now I have to have my brother-n-law buy book on Amazon for me since he lives out of state.

If it keeps up I guess Amazon will relocate to Nigeria

Originally posted by Kaploink
Not surprised. Texas is one of the most tax heavy states I have ever lived in. Only PA was worse. Sure they don't have a income tax, but they sure make up for that with fees and taxes on everything else. I currently pay more in property tax/sales tax than I have ever paid in federal income tax.

edit on 19-5-2011 by Kaploink because: (no reason given)

Laughable at best.

For a family of 3 on 50k a year, here is the numbers for Houston/average for the country:

Income Tax: 0/1469

Property: 1759/1938

Sales: 1071/960

Auto: 180/274

TOTAL: 3003/4364

Percentage: 6.0/8.7


Link


And just for gits and shiggles, here is a map of the tax burden per state on an average family:

[


--The tax burden is a measure of the effect of state’s taxes on taxpayers, and ranks the states based upon their tax burdens. The highest tax burden belonged to New Jersey, at 12.2% of income, while Alaska had the lowest, at 6.3%. The average tax burden for a Texas taxpayer was 7.9%, which ranked 45th in the country.

Another report [[Lemon.Fresh's Note: The PDF link above is the report this article is referring to]]by the Government of the District of Columbia, entitled ‘Tax Rates and Tax Burdens in the District of Columbia – A Nationwide Comparison’ went into more detail on this data. This report used the largest city in each state to calculate tax burdens: in the case of Texas, Houston was used. Below are the estimated tax burdens for a hypothetical family of three at different levels of income, what percentage of income the tax burden is, and where that ranks amongst all the states:

$25,000 – 10.0% – 36th
$50,000 – 6.0% – 44th
$75, 000 – 5.6% – 44th
$100,000 – 5.6% – 44th
$150,000 – 4.4% – 43rd

What might make this surprising is that Texas is well known for its high property tax, which in their study ranked 5th in the nation. While the property tax may be high, there is no income tax, and although sales tax was above average, auto tax was less than half the national average. With the bulk of the state’s taxes being based off of home values rather than split between realty values and income, this allows for property tax deductions to have a greater impact on the taxpayer.

While Texas’ property tax rates are certainly high, taxpayers carry a lower tax burden than most of the country. This might not make Texas the most ideal place for a second home tax-wise, but it’s not too hard in terms of tax burdens to call Texas home.

Link--





How does your foot taste when it is so far in your mouth?

Originally posted by ripcontrol
reply to post by neo96

 

The states are becoming greedy parasites...

Freedom start s when you say

All of what I earn is mine to keep!....

Umm . . .

States SHOULD have higher taxation than the federal government.

The state provides public services. The federal government . . . well, yeah.

All of what you earn is NOT yours . . . unless you do not want improved roads, police, fire fighters, education systems, armed forces, public utilities . . . shall I continue with the list?

Originally posted by Lemon.Fresh

Originally posted by ripcontrol
reply to post by neo96

 

The states are becoming greedy parasites...

Freedom start s when you say

All of what I earn is mine to keep!....

Umm . . .

States SHOULD have higher taxation than the federal government.

The state provides public services. The federal government . . . well, yeah.

All of what you earn is NOT yours . . . unless you do not want improved roads, police, fire fighters, education systems, armed forces, public utilities . . . shall I continue with the list?

edit on 5/19/2011 by Lemon.Fresh because: (no reason given)

Actually, only two items you mentioned in your list is paid for via direct State taxes.

1) Improved roads are paid for by the fuel tax.
2) Police and Firefighters are paid for through state taxes.
3) Education is paid for by property taxes.
4) Armed forces are paid for by Federal Taxes, unless its National Guard called up by the states local governor. Then it is paid for by the state.
5) Public utilities are paid for via the public utility tax.

And if you want to get into the argument about income tax. Well, technically the wages you earn should not be taxed. It is not considered a "profit" such as corporate earnings, lotto winnings, gambling winnings, or selling a house for example. That's why so many people do win against the IRS in tax law suits. But thats a completely different topic.

Point being, sales tax is not a necessity for states to operate. States make money hand over fist with all the taxations they already have. For example, state tax that everyone pays annually, fuel tax, tolls, Traffic Violations, cigarette taxes, property taxes, retail tax on top of sales tax, liquor licenses for stores that sell alcohol and beer, etc etc etc etc. Cigarette taxes alone in my state (NY) brought in $775 million in the 2007-2008 report. And taxes have gone WAY up since then ($10+ a pack now).

Some states don't even have sales taxes.

reply to post by Lemon.Fresh


no... no... no

and

no



Yes what list could there be... all those things you named can be done better and cheaper by private industry


yes what list...


the government is selling roads as it is...

ypu want a light up pay to put it up... your saying you have the right to force me to buy a product because you veiw it as necessary