I believe we should have a pay for what you use system...

I dont want to pay for roads I dont drive on.

I dont mean EZpass, but a toll roads like the bridge in Parkersburg.. The toll is .15 cents and all the proceeds are to maintain the bridge and the roads of the bridge.

Its always nice!

Technically, this discussion should be in politics now but...
Each city, county, and state, (as well as the feds) have a budget process in place. I think a lot of programs should be discarded or privatized (ala True_Story1011's overall sentiments) but until people stop expecting "big brother" and his smaller family members to do so much, the indirect price tag is going to grow. Our forefathers never envisioned us having a standing military consisting of millions of people (army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, etc) and most municipalities never provided paid police & fire protection. They also didn't anticipate the nanny state where tens of thousands of inspectors, advocates, and other tax paid positions were so commonplace, or funds like Social Security and other welfare state programs were set up to keep people from starving/being homeless/poor/fill in the blank. Further, they did not generally expect society as a whole to fund untold billions in state financed education, college "loans", finance sport arenas, haul garbage away, build so many roads, give away money to other countries, and all the rest of the things that they do.

In Tulsa, you have huge public projects being built like the BOK arena, parks, transit systems, and a public safety budget using about 55% of the ~$700 million annual budget for the city. If you want less government, convince enough of your fellow residents to petition Mayor Taylor and the city council as your elected representatives to eliminate programs. Just remember that all giveaways have a built in constituency that will fight tooth and nail to keep the gravy flowing. There will never be enough resources to cater to everyone's wish list so it's kind of natural that more states are trying to recoup "lost" tax revenue from online sources such as Amazon; I'm just glad Texas isn't one of them (and as far as the economy tanking, Houston's unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in almost ten years).

PS: That "rebate money" is nothing of the sort, just another government giveaway to appease the masses.

No more amazon for this New Yorker!

You must seriously be the only person on earth who does this.

I'm sure tax-happy Maryland will be quick to follow suit. If you can dream it, Maryland can tax it.

They must have very high property taxes in NH, with no sales or income taxes.

Property taxes are quite low in my county, complaints from residents notwithstanding. Less than 0.4% of assessed value for residential property and a large majority of that goes to the schools. But we get what we pay for, the county is always strapped for funds, the pay for county employees is pathetic, and the Roads and Bridges Department can't possibly keep up with road maintenance — consider the effect of high fuel prices. [Nearly all of our 200+ miles of county roads are dirt; to pave some of the main roads in my neighborhood we had to form a Local Improvement District and assess ourselves to pay for it. It passed by an overwhelming 71% yes vote.]

But our taxes are low and that's what people care about. When they aren't complaining vociferously to the County Commissioners about the state of the roads, that is...

Suck it, non-Washingtonians! Pretty soon you'll all have to pay sales tax on Amazon purchases like we do.

Its kinda funny. NY is pissed that people are buying online and not in local stores. Why is this? Because things are cheaper online. Local B&M stores won't lower prices so now, you NYers get screwed. I'm hoping this gets stopped otherwise I fear all other states will follow and tax online purchased which should be illegal. Why should Amazon care about NY when they do not have a physical presence there?

This has probably been pointed out already, but most states already do tax online (and mail-order) purchases. They just don't require the merchants to collect the tax, relying instead on the purchaser to pay the taxes at the end of the year.

What you're going to be seeing is the states closing that loophole.

But its not a loophole. Online stores should not have to collect taxes for other states in which they do not have a physical location. Its not Amazon's fault that NY has this issue. Maybe if B&M stores offered decent prices people wouldn't feel the need to shop online just to say a couple bucks in taxes?

No it's not a loophole. The lower prices "should" not be thought of because of taxes. Most states still require the buyer to report and pay that as a few others have said.

NY is just trying to find a way to get those taxes enforced 'easier', since very few report online purchases.

Why should it be "illegal" when it is simply an extension of current practice regarding B&M stores? Keep in mind that as online sales have skyrocketed, it has had a growing impact on local stores all across the country. Their representatives have been screaming for years how this situation isn't fair to them and they provide more jobs than online concerns.

They way I read it, this was related to laws enacted by a growing number of states. IIRC, a number of electronic sellers in NYC used to heavily advertise their competitive edge as saving folks money by virtue of "no sales tax" when they ordered online/over the phone. The trend is for states to require the collection of taxes, that is undeniable, and the only way that will change is if enough people vote against such practices (which a growing number of people don't seem inclined to do considering which political party has led the battle against taxes, also has led some unpopular military conflicts in the Middle East).

:thumbsup:

I might buy more locally if the sales tax weren't 8.375%.

The tax here in Tulsa is over 8% as well. Sucks when they don't do shit with it.

Does anyone know if you will be charged NY tax on pre-orders that are ordered before 6/1, but are released after 6/1?

You can expect it on all orders completed on 6/1 and thereafter.

Interesting. I pre-ordered the item with my HD-DVD player credit. So considering I no longer have the credit and the order was placed, should be counted as a completed purchase since I was "billed" already.

As an Amazon Prime member who buys tons of stuff there, I'm pretty pissed. I may cancel Prime if their challenge is unsuccessful. It'll be great when I can leave this tax-happy state.

I plan on doing the same.

Tax isn't a make or break deal for me. Amazon is still cheaper than every B&M store that and if you factor in gas being used, I'll just sit down and wait for the UPS guy to drop off my order.

Agreed. I think it is just more of an annoyance than anything else for some people since such a big draw to shopping online was that the price shown was the price paid. But, now people have to get used to treating it like any other store. While it is annoying paying that extra 8% or whatnot, it will still be cheaper than buying it at a B&M for most titles even if one doesn't factor in gas prices. If B&M started to actually compete with Amazon, well, that is when the fun starts.

I just joined Amazon Prime last month :(. Figures. Now I get to pay an extra 8.375 percent. Woohoo.

One difficulty with on-line retailers charging sales tax is that some states have different sales tax rates for each local entity. There is no way that Amazon can know what the sales tax rate is where I live. The best they could do is charge the state-wide rate (2.9% in Colorado) and forget about the county and city sales taxes. And how would they remit sales taxes to the local entities anyway?

Looks like I'll be cancelling my Amazon Prime and start shopping elsewhere.

Moved from HD Talk Forum.