Taxation Without Representation
Posted on April 16, 2008
Filed Under Public Policy |
Pro-tax politicians want to change this by allowing California to force Amazon to collect and submit sales taxes–and they may have found an ally in a U.S. Congress that’s controlled by Democrats.
[From Tax-free Internet shopping days could be numbered | Tech news blog - CNET News.com]
States complain that they are entitled to sales tax receipts from online retailers operating across state borders, e.g. Amazon, but under what authority? The Constitution is clear that only the Federal government has the authority to regulate interstate commerce and despite many attempts over the years, a national sales tax has never been passed into law.
The Feds should stay out of it because the only thing that will happen if Congress requires online retailers to comply with the rococo like sales tax laws in all 50 states (actually not all 50 states have sales tax) is that we will see increased costs that are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices in addition to the taxes collected from consumers.
This is bad for business and bad for consumers. States say that physical retailers are at a disadvantage to online retailers but never quite detail why that is so. Perhaps an answer would be found in efforts by states to reduce the regulatory burden on in-state retailers thereby creating the conditions under which they are more competitive to online retailers. This would not only be good for businesses but also consumers.
The Amazon Affiliates program is a legitimate issue to consider with regard to state sales taxes but we don’t need a new law to figure this out, a state AG could simply take Amazon to court today and come to a decision.Comments
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About
My name is Jeff Nolan and I write Venture Chronicles. These are my thoughts on technology, innovation, management, public policy and pretty much anything else that I find interesting.
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