Sales tax

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:05 am

I hope this opening a can of worms and if so please please keep it positive.

Shopsmith is one of the few internet retailers that charge state sales tax on cataloge orders. When I asked about this in the past the reason given was at the time they did conduct business in each state (live demo's) therefore there was no way to accurately separate an order taken by a salesman at a demo or a mail in order.

That situation has now changed at least in the east. Since there are no more traveling sales demo's and no academies west of the Mississippi can Shopsmith stop charging those of us in the east sales tax?

That would lower the overall cost and frankly would cause me to order more which would benefit Shopsmith. It would be win win, I would see lower overall cost and Shopsmith would see an increased revenue.
Ed

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:44 am

Sounds like a plan to me! With the related thread under the woodworking tool section,(what new tools...), I would imagine it would greatly increase sales.

BPR

cincinnati · Post by **cincinnati** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:17 pm

I live in Ohio so I am screwed either way.

twalz68225 · Post by **twalz68225** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:40 pm

In Ohio, anyway, they ask on the state income tax form whether you bought anything over the internet and did not pay the sales tax. If you did, you are supposed to pay the sales tax to the state at that point. Knowing, of course, that everyone would be perfectly honest and report any purchases made online.

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:20 pm

Ed:

As you know, I also live in Florida, and in fact I served two terms in the Florida House of Representatives (1994-98). Because Florida does not have a state income tax, our sales tax comprises slightly over 75% of the total state revenue. With auto tourism suffering from high gas prices, and rapidly increasing internet purchases, the Florida Department of Revenue is getting agressive on vendors who ship goods to Florida. You can expect more and more out of state companies to collect Florida sales taxes in the future.

It's not Shopsmith's fault. direct your frustration to our DOR.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:13 pm

You all need to move to Oregon, we have no sales tax, anyone can shop at Granger's and Cash & Carry because we have no resellers licenses to prove you are allowed to buy wholesale so everyone is.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:12 am

8iowa wrote:Ed:

As you know, I also live in Florida, and in fact I served two terms in the Florida House of Representatives (1994-98). Because Florida does not have a state income tax, our sales tax comprises slightly over 75% of the total state revenue. With auto tourism suffering from high gas prices, and rapidly increasing internet purchases, the Florida Department of Revenue is getting agressive on vendors who ship goods to Florida. You can expect more and more out of state companies to collect Florida sales taxes in the future.

It's not Shopsmith's fault. direct your frustration to our DOR.

Living in the state of WA, is like Florida in that aspect: We do not have a state income tax. Our state has been trying for years to collect sales tax from out-of-state sales. I see no-

-way that they can do this without the cooperation of those out-of-state companies. There is just no way that my state can know what I buy from out-of-state. They bluster and pass laws, but without spending an extraordinary amount of money (more then would be made up for by successfully collecting the sales tax), there is nothing they can do about it.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 2:29 am

Yeah Ed! It is a can of worms! There is no easy solution. The ability to tax and to collect taxes changes frequently. The safest way is for companies to collect and disperse appropriate taxes.

When I lived in Montana, we sometimes shopped in Washington. We had a document that freed us from paying sales tax on anything we bought in Washington. At that time it was an agreement between the two states as many folks from WA often went to MT to shop. All Washington merchants would give us the document when we asked and showed out Montana Drivers License.

When we were traveling the Nation in our motorhome, (full timers) we used a mail forwarding address in Ohio, run from a motorhome club. We were surprised to find that Ohio wanted income tax on all of the pension checks received during that year. We immediately changed our mail address to Texas, (with no income tax)

Ohio seems to be a state that is very tax aware and wants complete compliance.

paul heller · Post by **paul heller** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:38 am

a1gutterman wrote:There is just no way that my state can know what I buy from out-of-state.

Driving over the border to buy is one thing, but if you have something shipped into your state, the company that sells it to you would be required to collect taxes. That's how they get you.

With almost all states I know of, if the company you buy from has a physical location in your state, you need to pay taxes. That's one reason I buy so much from Amazon. It is tax free for me. But there seems to be a constant movement in the government to change that and allow Amazon (and everyone else not operating in Colorado) to tax me just the same if the purchase was made via the internet.

Paul

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:44 am

Frankly I wish they would quite messing around with 'this' tax and 'that' tax, 'this' exemption and 'that' exemption. I think they need an 'X' percent universal sales tax (on every and any sale excluding food for personal comsumption) and the money be dispersed for use by to local/state/federal government by population. No tax form, and no exemptions.

Ed