01-02-2017, 07:29 PM
(01-02-2017, 04:57 PM)Mikebert Wrote:(01-01-2017, 07:49 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:(01-01-2017, 08:08 AM)Mikebert Wrote: If Trump were smart he would use this as an example of the job-destroying policies of his predecessors and push for eliminating the exemption from sales taxes online retailers get. The kingpin of these is Amazon. CEO of Amazon is Jeff Bezos with whom Trump is at war. What better way to stick it to Bezos--as candidate Trump vowed to do? This could be a wonderful policy politically, why should online retailers get special tax treatment that destroys local retail jobs?
Actually Amazon is in favor of extending sales taxes to online retailers, because they are big enough and have operations in a sufficient number of states that they have to charge tax in a lot of cases anyway. Nor would it change anything with respect to brick and mortar retailers.
It may not change much, but there is a question of fairness. As one who is opposed to crony capitalism I would think you would be in favor of this. On the other hand, I did not know Amazon was in favor of this.
I would be in favor of a form of this that would not force small online retailers out of business due to excessive regulatory requirements to handle complex state specific sales tax rules. For example, I would be okay with requiring collection of the single lowest sales tax rate in the buyer's state for any category of goods, with services exempted since their treatment is more complex. States would of course be free to flatten their sales tax structure across different categories of goods to prevent etailers from gaining an unfair advantage. States should also be required to accept a simple, one page paper form accompanying payment; they could permit electronic submission, but should not be allowed to require it, since it can be difficult for sufficiently small businesses.
Alternatively, if it only applied to sellers with more than, say, $10 million in gross sales, adjusted for inflation - which is not that big a store - that would be okay too, though someone might be able to figure out a way of exploiting the loophole.