On Friday 11 March 2005 09:50 am, Alma J Wetzker wrote: > Bruce Marshall wrote: > > On Friday 11 March 2005 06:52 am, David Bandel wrote: > >>On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 20:14:33 -0700, Collins Richey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > wrote: > >>>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050309-4689.html > >>> > >>>I don't know about you, but I can't even imagine a Republican governor > >>>proposing this kind of crap. > >> > >>So, Collins, how much are you paying for your downloads? > >>I pay $0.00. Multiply that by 5% (0.00 x .05) and I get a whopping > >>$0.00 I owe in tax. Even if you pay a little for a music download, so > >>what? I haven't heard you complain about the tax when you go shopping > >>downtown. No big deal. Governments everywhere need their tax. Ask > >>Bill Gates. M$ taxes you on _every_ system you buy from an OEM like > >>Dell, etc., whether you buy it with M$ installed or not. Complain > >>about that. That at least is illegal (per-CPU licensing agreements). > > > > The bad part of all these internet taxes is the paperwork involved. It > > would be impossible for most people to comply... the little 'mom & pop' > > internet sales places, much less having every seller on eBay having to > > collect the taxes and submit them to various states. > > > > I used to sell a couple of software packages back in the 80's. I was > > living in MI and was once approached by AZ to collect taxes on the sales > > I shipped to AZ. (very little) I wrote back and said that there was no > > way I could afford the time and effort to fill out all the paperwork for > > that and therefore I would refuse to sell to anyone from AZ in the > > future. > > > > I never heard back from them... unfortunately I'm sure it didn't send > > them any message either. > > AFAIK, you are not required to collect taxes unless you have a "presence" > in the state. That is usually interpreted to mean some sort of "brick and > mortar" facility. Once you start collecting taxes for a government entity, > you are then subject to periodic audits, not just state, but municipality. > To the best of my knowledge, there is no tax package available today that > can correctly calculate tax for every address in the country. These > suggestions for new taxes are simply unworkable with the present tax > situation.
I would agree with all of the above. But it doesn't take a 'brick and mortar' presence to get stuck with the taxes. All it takes is a one-time physical presence. I once displayed at a show in Boston. That was all it took to require me to make quarterly reports to MA. Taxes suck.... -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + Bruce S. Marshall [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bellaire, MI 03/11/05 10:40 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ "Pee Wee Herman: Microsoft BOB on Steroids!" _______________________________________________ [email protected] Unsub/Pause/Etc : http://mail.linux-sxs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/general
