Jakebrake Loc: Broomfield, Colorado

Good points however I think the airline industry had more to do with the demise of passenger rail than automobiles. When people can get cross country faster than 4 days was their downfall.

leftj Loc: Texas

Since when does anyone with a brain believe what Newsweek reports.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

You do live in denial. Your king did you in.

leftj Loc: Texas

You live in denial if you don't know that these publications put things out there that have no basis in fact. Someone says something so they report it. Journalism is all partisan slanted and therefore dead.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

Lol you really dont

PeterBergh

Unfortunately, most of the money we pay in taxes does not go to services. Most of the money is "eaten" by the bureaucracy; only a lesser fraction goes to services. Economically, I believe that we as a country (US) would be better off if we paid directly for the services we need, rather than having federal, state, and local government waste a lot of money.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I feel your pain. Since we are just across the river from B&H, they have decided to open a distribution warehouse in NJ. The minute they did that they established themselves in business in New Jersey and by law started taxing me on everything I buy from them. The circumstances may be different here in New Jersey than in Colorado, but the end result is the same. In your case, it sounds like Colorado is aggressively attempting to get all the sales tax they can, and that is likely to mean that you will have a similar issue with other online purchases, like perhaps from Amazon, or LL Bean. or ...!!

Jakebrake Loc: Broomfield, Colorado

Agreed.. In the near future I think taxes will be collected on all internet purchases.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

Thanks to your honorable king

leftj Loc: Texas

I think you’ve got your countries mixed up.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

You give credence to an earlier post.

Joe Blow

It sucks to be a tax cheat that gets caught. While income taxes may be written off in some bankruptcy cases, any deliberate evasion denies that.

pendennis

In the U.S., there is no VAT. The U.S. Government collects, income and payroll taxes, e.g.; they also collect tariffs on imported goods. Our sales tax systems are very much a state and local domain

As a means of raising revenue, states, counties, and some cities, have resorted to collecting sales taxes on certain goods. In a lot of locales, food and prescription drugs, sometimes newspapers and magazines, are exempt from sales taxes, and generally services (labor) are exempt. Sales taxes are generally collected on the gross amount of the cash register sales total. For example, a sales tax of 6% would collect $6.00 on $100, and the retailer remits directly to the unit of government levying the tax. This works well for brick and mortar stores, not so much mail order and "etail". The various taxing jurisdictions found out years ago, that people would avoid paying sales taxes from out-of-state companies.

As laws now exist, the state of Michigan can't force Ohio to collect Michigan's 6% sales tax on goods shipped to Michigan. The exceptions are stores which have brick and mortar presences in more than one state. If I ordered something from a store in Ohio, and they had a brick and mortar presence in Michigan, they can, and usually will collect sales tax and remit it to Michigan.

In order to try and collect their sales taxes, the states also levy an identical tax referred to as a "Use Tax" on goods consumed locally, but purchases out of state. States have resorted to an honor system when residents file state returns, to collect the use tax on goods bought out of state and consumed in state. This works, but to a minimal extent. There is little the state can do, if one denies that goods were purchased out of state, but consumed in state.

The several states while "United", are very disjointed when it comes to helping each other when it comes to collecting sales and use taxes.

There is resistance to universal collection of sales taxes. Congress cant interfere with state and local taxes, and maybe turn the collection of sales and use taxes into another Federal bureaucracy. Some states are clamoring for Federal help. There is no mandate in the U.S. Constitution, and even Congress is loath to get involved.

If this sounds complicated, believe me, it is. In my prior life as an accountant, I was a subject matter expert on sales and local taxes, and it's a very complicated matter.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Why are you mad at them for following the law?

iosa Loc: Fairbanks, AK

Yeah! How dare they insist that you help to support your local community! Outrage! Harrumph! Burn everything!