Feds and Staties Push an Online Sales Tax
BusinessWeek reported that state and federal officials are pushing forward in the effort to tax online sales. New York State passed a law requiring a sales tax last year on any product sold through the Internet by a retailer based out of New York, and now other states are trying to follow suit. Is that fair?
Well, it depends on who you talk to. In a time when our government is bailing out companies with $700 billion, any new source of income will help. But with a new company filing for bankruptcy every day, can companies afford for their customers to incur a new tax?
The bill that may be introduced to Congress and could be put into place as early as this year, would effect only the large companies that have a physical store location or office such as Ebay and Overstock. These companies are protesting the bill, and understandably so. After New York passed the bill, Overstock pulled out of the state completely and cut ties with around 3,400 websites who promoted their business within New York, but was that really necessary? Walmart already charges a sales tax in both online store and in-store purchases. The additional fees, which some are saying will take away an advantage e-tailers have over brick-and-mortar stores, hasn’t seemed to effect the discount retailer’s sales.
While the sides seem fairly black and white with retailers being opposed to the bill while government officials are rooting for it to pass, there’s one retailer who’s asking just to keep it fair. As noted in BusinessWeek, Amazon.com’s spokeswoman Patricia Smith wrote in an email, “We’d be O.K. with a mandatory collection requirement as long as the states’ tax systems were truly simplified and the collection evenhandedly applied”. One of the potential fears associated with the online sales tax bill is that individual states would require different collection amounts, causing a headache for retailers.
Honestly, I’m surprised there isn’t an online sales tax in place already. Am I for the bill? No -I’d rather keep my money. But do I see it becoming a reality in the near future? Absolutely.
By leeann
