NEWS: States Want Taxes For Internet Purchases

If you bought a computer from Dell, or books from Amazon, the government wants its tax money that you failed to pay during your online purchase. Two more states, California and New York have added lines to their tax forms for taxpayers to declare their online purchases. New York says that it will have audits to uncover credit card purchases and mounting tax debt.

techweb.com
Faced with the loss of billions of dollars in telephony taxes because of the ban on Internet-access taxes, some states are now moving to collect sales tax on goods purchased over the Internet.
The nation's two largest states--California and New York--have added lines to their state income-tax forms this year requiring taxpayers to declare sales taxes owed on out-of-state purchases. Dan DeVeronica, 21, who owns an Internet cafe in Rochester, says most New Yorkers, including himself, will likely leave "line 56" blank "as sort of a protest." DeVeronica said "The Internet is not a government service. It's privately owned so it shouldn't be taxable."

Evidently the government sees the Internet as a huge tax field just waiting to be developed and mined for riches. Some members of the Senate are fighting to have your Internet service taxed. They reasons that since you are getting services (downloading music, video, news), you should be paying taxes on those services. Notable are the heroes Sen. George Allen, R-Va., who with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore are pushing for a permanent ban on internet service tax.(Hip, Hip, Hurrah!)
Since the states are losing that war, now they are pushing to enforce taxing items purchased over the Internet. The main hurdle for them is the difficulty of tracking every purchase made and the difficulty of auditing millions of people to find this information. States would like for vendors to collect the tax at purchase time, but since different states collect tax at different rates, its very difficult to control. What about the purchases you make when you are vacationing? Who keeps track of these items, and are we to pay taxes on these as well?
So, is it possible for them to enforce this law and have everyone pay taxes on their Internet purchases. Most likely the RIAA will stop illegal downloads before this happens. Most people just don�t know that they are supposed to pay the taxes, and if they do know, they don�t want to pay the tax.

Related ATS Discussion:
FCC starts rewriting Internet rules


[Edited on 4-3-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

----->>>the cats outta da bag

They already have that tax here in Alabama. I think that it has been on the books since 1999 but you know how many times I have reported anything on it?

I'll just let you guess.

Man are we ever going to get a break from paying wasted taxes!? The government is looking for every way to tax you. Even if it's pointles.

My state has it. LOL. What are they gonna do? If they have a brick and mortar store, like JC Penney, they get the tax. If not, I don't see how they can forse those little cyberstores to tax us. Not plausible. Like trying to find out who buys cigarettes online from the Indians!!!!!

in michigan it's there for you to put down the amount you spent in on online purchases so you can pay sales tax. it's been there for a few years. i never use it.

so they tax internet purchases.....people will stop buying of the internet..why pay shipping and taxes. what about paper catolgs?? most that i get don't have a tax rate in them.

the govt is not a govt anymore...it is a CORPORATION...only concerned about ITS bottom line.

why don't they tax tv/radio reception?? the govt is starting to do some funny things now-a-days.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by clearmind
the govt is not a govt anymore...it is a CORPORATION...only concerned about ITS bottom line.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And, maybe it was always a corporation, and we never knew it!