Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Washington State has just passed a bill that will require all catalog and internet businesses to pay sales tax on sales to it`s residents. The news story that I watched said that it would be joining other states that already collect taxes? The story did not say which states those are (21 of them) or how a business should address this issue? Does anyone know?

Is there a place to get a national list of state taxes? It almost seems easier to just not sell to these states.

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/6650347.html

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"If you`ve got a frog to swallow, don`t look at it too long. And if you`ve got more than one to swallow, swallow the biggest one first"--Danny Cox

My biggest question is how would they track internet sales made to their residents? If I sell you a widget, I keep the records on my computer and report them to my state gov. There is no way for the state of Washington to find out that I sold the widget to you. From what I understand, there is rumor of a bill introduced to congress a couple of years ago I think, that would have made collecting internet sales tax a national program. I do not know if this bill is still alive of if it has been defeated, your congressperson should know. 

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Sharon Murphy
Owner
Northwoods State of Mind, Inc.
NorthWoods

I looked over the article, and they don`t say `require`, but use words like `encourages` and `voluntarily`.  It`s more like a bill that suggests what would be nice. 

Sounds like this is related to the news of the day. There`s another thread going on this, too, about how the IRS wants to collect for online sales.

The state of texas requires online stores to collect taxes from texas residents. Every 4 months one has to file taxes. If you don`t file, they assign an arbitrary amount for you to pay.

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Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.

Goethe

I can see paying a sales tax when the customer is in the same state as the company. That`s been around for years, and mail-order forms routinely indicate which states require the addition of the tax.

I HATE this new "suggestion".  They said it will "level the playing field" for bricks and mortar stores to compete with online stores.   Well, the playing field is already level.  If I buy from a local store, I pay tax, but not shipping.  If I buy online, I pay shipping but (usually) not tax.  They are pretty much a wash. 

I wish they (the govt) were not making bricks and mortar stores the scapegoat or excuse.  The fact of the matter is that this is out and out government greed.  Why one small town here in WA will get a whole $100 increase in their tax revenues due to to this according to a local news report.  Wahoo... don`t spend it all in one place, Index.

If this becomes law, we will see a ton of small online retailers close.  Many of these online stores are one person operations who simply don`t have time to chase taxes all over the country. 

JMHO

~Kim

Greed`s nothing new. Look at the $300-BILLION settlement a few years ago for that lawsuit about cigarettes! ALL of it`s gone, and most of it went to shore up the collapsed State and local governments.

The good news is that the morons in government are at least observant enough to understand they can`t run the same lawsuit twice. So, if they can`t nail the smokers, what`s left? The individual business owners, I`m thinking. They`re evil capitalists, after all. :-D