orangecrush

I am not sure if this belongs in this forum, and I couldn't find another post about it, but check out this article and tell me if you think that it will pass. I personally don't like the idea of it, but think that given the budget crunch pretty much all states are in, it will pass.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/...020503X,00.asp

Just makes you wish that consumers lobbied more.

lwhy?

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I buy online to avoid the 10 cents on a dollar sales tax in Crossville. I would be very complex to be in Michigan and charge sales tax to someone in Tennessee. Would you pay Michigan sales tax or Tennessee sales tax?

marty888

Maybe I can start an international incident by ordering from amazon.ca ...... love to see how they propose that FOREIGN internet entities be responsible for collecting U.S. taxes!

Brak55

Let's face it, this is going to hurt the on-line retailers the same if not more than us. Increased bookkeeping is just the start. They will also need to drop prices to stay competitive with B&M. For me to buy on-line, the total price, including any tax, shipping and handling, has to be lower than the B&M price with tax.

I'm not sure that the on-line stores can even think about cutting their prices by the 7 to 10% they would need to keep their total prices in line. If this is enacted, it could be the end for some of the smaller on-line retailers.

Johnny Zhivago

Bottom line... It's coming, perhaps sooner rather than later. Like you said, the budget crunch in most - if not all - states right now makes this an almost certainty to pass in some form or another...

orangecrush

It does talk about the fact that it would take a federal law for it to be forced on all retailers. That may take a long time, it may not. Hopefuly it will not happen at the federal level.

majorjoe23

I know Amazon already charges people who live in Washington, and their sales tax is 10%! I was also charged sales tax when I lived in Florida and ordered from Florida stores on the net.

Jeraden

All online stores charge sales tax if they are selling to someone in the same state they are in (or if they have a branch/store in the same state). In this case its no different than you walking into the store and buying its. Its a within-state purchase as far as the tax law is concerned and they are required to charge tax.

Fortunately not too many PA companies are online so I don't need to worry about it much. Would suck to live in CA though, as that seems where most internet companies operate out of.

lisadoris

When I filled out my Ohio state income last week it asked about internet purchases so they could collect taxes on them. Okay how many people do they think will answer that question honestly? Like marty888 said, international internet sales might be the way to go from now on.

jiggyblau

I have always equated shipping for online orders with tax for B&M orders...making it a wash. Not sure how this will affect me. I'll say I would buy less, but I'll probably do the same.

dgc

"Moreover, most people buy online for the convenience and time savings, and paying a few dollars more will not change that pattern, he says."

That doesn't apply to me or many other bargin hunters here at dvdtalk.

Personally, I'd rather hand pick a new mint dvd from a local B&M while I'm out and about then going the convienent route and risking a damaged case delivered for the same or greater price.

cubanx

"Even if every state passes SSTP legislation, not every online seller will collect sales taxes. The system remains voluntary because states can't change interstate commerce laws. That's up to the federal government, which is the SSTP's next target."

The Fed's are agaist internet tax and in this economy do you think congress would pass a added tax burden on consumers.

bboisvert

Agreed. I think 99% of people (not just DVDTalkers) buy online to save money. If you're paying the same amount (or more) than buying live, most people would rather buy live and actually get to hold and inspect the merchandise before purchase, bring it home right away, etc.

Order online is NOT about convenience or time savings. It's about saving money by buying from a store with less overhead (no need for actual physical store, cashiers, etc.)

bigjim25

Walmart.com used to didn't charge us tax but now they do.

Drexl

If they're going to do that, they'd better make it fair and apply it to all mail-order purchases from catalogs and television commercials/infomercials too. That's essentially what online shopping is anyway: mail-order.

letterbox

Completely agree. No sales tax is the primary reason I buy 100% of my DVDs online, and only from sites that don't add shipping charges (DDD, mostly). When it's no longer cost effective, I'll go B&M and get the discs sooner.

DonnachaOne

Deep Discount DVD already adds a few dollars for tax. I don't mind; it's never that much. What I DO mind is that they're not forthcoming about it - tax is only mentioned JUST before you order from them.

Now, imagine if EVERY online retailer started doing this on a grand scale, reflecting the current percentage of sales tax. You're ordering a $20 DVD from Washington - and all of a sudden, it's rounded up to $23?

darkside

I won't pay tax and shipping. Its not going to happen unless Amazon and others drop prices to offset the sales tax.

marty888

I have ordered many times from Deep Discount DVD and have NEVER paid tax - I assume that you are in Illinois, because as far as I know, that is the only state where DDD charges tax, since that is where they are located.

And what do you mean by "a few dollars"? Are you implying that if you order a DVD for $9.87 that they will add a "few dollars"?

And as for the tax only showing up "just before you order from them" - yes, that's when all the items are in your shopping cart, that's when you have signed in and your shipping location is recognized by their software - it's the same on all websites. What do you expect - a pop-up when you first go to the site that says something like "...and today's tax will be $1.82" ...

DonnachaOne

Yes Marty; am in Illinois.

I don't normally buy just one DVD... so in purchases, they typically chage me a few bits extra. My last purchase had about 3 dollars tax, bringing total to $40. But as I said - I don't mind.

orangecrush

http://www.msnbc.com/news/869557.asp - I like the end (sort of)

lumberjack

If so, I wonder if a lot of Internet businesses would consider moving there to avoid charging sales tax to its customers.

My only reason for shopping online is for the savings. Why on earth would I pay the same amount of money online as I do at the store across the street? I’d have to possibly pay an additional shipping fee and wait about a week longer to get the item as a result of the shipping. Then there’s the possibility that the online retailer will send me the wrong item or it will arrive damaged. At this point I’d be waiting at least two weeks to both send the damaged/wrong item back to the retailer and waiting for them to resend the proper item. And more still, there’s all the hassle and possibly the upfront return shipping expense I’d have to deal with.

Now that I think about it, why am I shoping on the Internet? Oh, yeah, it’s because of the decent deals and no sales tax.

It sounds like nothing will come of this until November, so at least we have plenty of time to ween ourselves from this addicting hobby.

Wrangler

There are over 5,000 sales tax jurisdictions in the US (I forget the real number). If this comes to volition, it will be a disaster to Ecommerce.

I work in the industry and we constantly look at what has to be done and what is available to do it with. The package softwares are 6 figures. There are Internet services that will calculate it on a per transaction for a percentage of the sale (like credit cards). Then you have to worry about the filing issues as well as the maintenance of tax ids in each jurisdiction.

This will force most of the Mom and Pop Internet sites out of business. Only those that have a high enough margin to cover the additional overhead will survive.

Personally, I have already shifts some of my DVD purchases from the Internet to B&M. The deals are not there to justify the purchasing on the Internet. Adding the Sales Tax will all but kill Internet purchasing for me.

Brak55

I have heard people propose that, if this ever comes about, there will need to be a single rate charged no matter where you live or where the company is located and some "clearinghouse" will distribute the collected taxes on a predetermined formula to either the states and/or the local jurisdictions.

Cheddarmuff

This sucks.....