Amazon Tax Bill Passes State Assembly

[TLSS_N]

The state of California could collect more than $1 billion a year by taxing Amazon and other online retailers if a bill approved by the Assembly becomes law.

Assemblyman Charles Calderon, a Democrat from Whittier, says his legislation doesn't impose a new sales tax, but extends one that California should already have been enforcing.

AB155 passed, 47-16, with the support of one GOP lawmaker Tuesday. It now heads to the Senate.[/p]

read the rest here

Get ready for a price increase on newegg.

 

[Jamstruth]

So... sales tax in the US doesn't apply to online sites?

 

[Rydian]

So... sales tax in the US doesn't apply to online sites?

No, the issue was different states had different rules and rates and there was concern over whether the buyer's state, the site's home state, or the warehouse's state should apply. Amazon was getting off without paying some taxes due to that.

 

[Snailface]

So... sales tax in the US doesn't apply to online sites?

Not if the online business doesn't have a physical presence in the state the purchase was made.

 

[Jamstruth]

Interesting. You guys have weird sales tax stuff. Its always added at the end of the transaction. The price you see isn't what you pay. Its a bit stupid in my opinion.

I kinda support this then. Its just California getting what its owed, though it does mean you guys have slightly higher prices.

 

[nando]

nooooooooooo! oh well, it's also a good thing. amazon will probably lower prices slighty to make up for the tax difference to keep up sales. only reason i buy on amazon is because taxes in cali are so high, so if they charge taxes too then i'll be buying locally.

 

[melkor42x]

They'll just do what they said they would do in Texas. They told our Governor if it passed, they would close their distribution centre in this state. He will veto it when it comes to it.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Interesting. You guys have weird sales tax stuff. Its always added at the end of the transaction. The price you see isn't what you pay. Its a bit stupid in my opinion.

I kinda support this then. Its just California getting what its owed, though it does mean you guys have slightly higher prices.

I had a discussion about that in another topic, and they seem to think we are being spoon fed because our price is always the final price with taxes included lol.

But yeah, with tax rates being different all over the place makes things pretty complicated. I am sure amazon doesnt want this to get passed lol.

 

[Jamstruth]

Interesting. You guys have weird sales tax stuff. Its always added at the end of the transaction. The price you see isn't what you pay. Its a bit stupid in my opinion.

I kinda support this then. Its just California getting what its owed, though it does mean you guys have slightly higher prices.

I had a discussion about that in another topic, and they seem to think we are being spoon fed because our price is always the final price with taxes included lol.

But yeah, with tax rates being different all over the place makes things pretty complicated. I am sure amazon doesnt want this to get passed lol.

You mean something sensible is considered spoon feeding? Wow... And for physical shops it should be no problem at all to show full price including sales tax. They just need to print the product prices in shops including sales tax for that state. Its not a difficult thing to make a computer do. Only problem comes when dealing with prices in the actual product labels but it would be acceptable for those to have a sidenote saying "Plus sales tax applicable to your area"

 

[impizkit]

They'll just do what they said they would do in Texas. They told our Governor if it passed, they would close their distribution centre in this state. He will veto it when it comes to it.

This is exactly what will happen.

 

[Deleted_171835]

Well, that sucks for those in the US.

Over here, Amazon has always charged a sales tax for products.

 

[nando]

Interesting. You guys have weird sales tax stuff. Its always added at the end of the transaction. The price you see isn't what you pay. Its a bit stupid in my opinion.

I kinda support this then. Its just California getting what its owed, though it does mean you guys have slightly higher prices.

I had a discussion about that in another topic, and they seem to think we are being spoon fed because our price is always the final price with taxes included lol.

But yeah, with tax rates being different all over the place makes things pretty complicated. I am sure amazon doesnt want this to get passed lol.

You mean something sensible is considered spoon feeding? Wow... And for physical shops it should be no problem at all to show full price including sales tax. They just need to print the product prices in shops including sales tax for that state. Its not a difficult thing to make a computer do. Only problem comes when dealing with prices in the actual product labels but it would be acceptable for those to have a sidenote saying "Plus sales tax applicable to your area"

that's way more complicated than what we currently have. anyone that has ever made a purchase in the US knows how much to expect in taxes, it's pretty simple math. i for one don't want to look down a list of different pricing for 50 different states to find out how much i'm gonna pay, nor do i want to enter my location for the site to tell me.

few local stores do include taxes in their pricing.
you should also know that taxes also vary within counties. for example taxes in oakland ca are higher than in san francisco and they are only 10 minutes apart. so you can imagine it can become a real task to promote different prices in different counties from the same store chain.

small store, it's easy enough to put stickers on, but for big chains this would be a daunting task that would simply not be worth it.

 

[TheDarkSeed]

This is terrible news for me!

About 70% of all my possessions were bought online! The fact that there were no taxes to be paid to amazon was the reason I shopped online. Now It's just the same as any store here...

 

[FAST6191]

@Jamstruth consider why a large chunk of Amazon's (and many other sites) ship out of the channel islands ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/23/ch...ands_tax_stays/ ) or HQ themselves in the Republic of Ireland.

I do agree though US sales tax law is odd even by tax and accounting standards. I will have to look up the logic behind this (beyond places do love their tax money) as some things seem a bit dodgy at a glance.

 

[IBNobody]

They'll just do what they said they would do in Texas. They told our Governor if it passed, they would close their distribution centre in this state. He will veto it when it comes to it.

He Veto'd it. Thank god. I buy everything from Amazon.

Now the state House and Senate are acting clueless because they don't know how to override the Veto.

 

[Hakoda]

Crap. Okay I'm buying my dad's Father's Day present (Logitech Harmony 700) immediately. I don't wanna pay tax.

 

[RchUncleSkeleton]

This is a bunch of BS....as if the citizens of California aren't already over taxed as it is! We pay tons in taxes and just had the vehicle registrations raised! How long is the state going to suck people dry before they realize that by putting a huge tax burden on the consumers that it's killing the market! The more people pay in taxes the less money they actually end up spending because people don't have the money they would were the taxes not so high. I honestly believe that we should not have income tax or property tax, why should I have to pay taxes on the money I worked for when the government is already getting all kinds of taxes on the stuff I buy? You pay money to work, you pay money to live, you pay money to buy things, you pay money to do anything at all! It's total BS and there needs to be a reform because sooner or later people are gonna get sick of it and take matters into their own hands! Besides that whole situation, the fact is that our tax dollars are wasted on paying people to sit around on their asses and do nothing at all, it's going to their million dollar homes and their big christmas bonuses, it's going to their vacations and many other unneeded overpriced crap! Get rid of the current system completely because there's no fixing it!

 

[TLSS_N]

This is a bunch of BS....as if the citizens of California aren't already over taxed as it is! We pay tons in taxes and just had the vehicle registrations raised! How long is the state going to suck people dry before they realize that by putting a huge tax burden on the consumers that it's killing the market! The more people pay in taxes the less money they actually end up spending because people don't have the money they would were the taxes not so high. I honestly believe that we should not have income tax or property tax, why should I have to pay taxes on the money I worked for when the government is already getting all kinds of taxes on the stuff I buy? You pay money to work, you pay money to live, you pay money to buy things, you pay money to do anything at all! It's total BS and there needs to be a reform because sooner or later people are gonna get sick of it and take matters into their own hands! Besides that whole situation, the fact is that our tax dollars are wasted on paying people to sit around on their asses and do nothing at all, it's going to their million dollar homes and their big christmas bonuses, it's going to their vacations and many other unneeded overpriced crap! Get rid of the current system completely because there's no fixing it!

Look everyone, someone had a conservative thought, you must hate them to,right?

seriously, I get exactly where your coming from dude, trust me. Maybe if there where armed police officers outside the hospitals, rejecting those who wanted to milk the system for all it's worth none of this would happen... but we have to be all multi-culti, now don't we?

 

[RchUncleSkeleton]

Look everyone, someone had a conservative thought, you must hate them to,right?

seriously, I get exactly where your coming from dude, trust me. Maybe if there where armed police officers outside the hospitals, rejecting those who wanted to milk the system for all it's worth none of this would happen... but we have to be all multi-culti, now don't we?

For me it's not even about providing welfare or health care to people who can't afford it....it's about putting a stop to the grossly overpaid fat cats in the government whom really get nothing done and all make sure nothing gets done. If we were to take half of what they make away they'd still have loads of cash and we wouldn't need to be taxed so heavily...the answer is not to raise or add taxes but to stop this unnecessary spending!

 

[BlueStar]

Look everyone, someone had a conservative thought, you must hate them to,right?

You've got quite a victim complex.