Bobsphoto

I live in Colorado where they have been trying to tax online for years because of our squirrely TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) that messes up government finance. If they can find any local nexus to tax a transaction they will. The flip side is that it is how our local governments are funded, so while I like to save money, I also like shopping local at bricks and mortar such as Mike's because I appreciate the service and being able to see what I am getting.

dragonfist Loc: Stafford, N.Y.

I have always looked at it this way. The school taxes I am now paying are to cover my k-12 education costs when I was in school. A lot of those that funded my education had no children in school either. We have a fine school system here and I gladly pay my dues every year.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Read a history book.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

FWIW - when it comes to big ticket items, like camera bodies and other mfg controlled price things, I will buy local from a favorite store, but if I can save $40.00 on a $100.00 item, I am going internet thank you.

Living & shopping in a no tax state also gives me a little benefit :)

Bill_de Loc: US

Amazon does not write your state's tax code. Amazon is only telling you that they do not collect it for your state. Amazon doesn't pave your roads, provide police protection, fund your courts, etc.

I'd love to be in court when somebody tells the judge that Amazon said they don't have to pay taxes.

I believe, unless you just got off the boat, that you already knew that. And if you didn't, remember that ignorance of the law is no defense.

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LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Stop making sense, it offends some of our friends here.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Ohhh, I don't know... ignorance MIGHT be a defense these days!

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

If you live in NY or NJ Adorama will charge a state tax.

Bill_de Loc: US

You are right of course. I neglected to include ignorance of the judges.

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Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

So you were knowingly breaking the law. Where is the honor in that?

Cookie223 Loc: New Jersey

Boy did you start a fire storm! I can'y believe how a simple comment has blown so much out of proportion. I guess I'm a minority too. If we were able to select what our taxes are used for, I'd pick for the fed's, SS, money towards the security of our great country, affordable health care for the elderly (who worked and paid taxes) and the repairs of our interstate highways. As for the state taxes, I would select, police, firemen, and other emergency responders. and the up keep of all roads. I would select that my tax money would not pay for people who are on welfare and keep having kids, and illegals who are abusing our generosity (which our elected officials created). BTW, NJ just mandated that Rutgers use tax payer dollars to fund a think tank to understand gun violence! There is so much data collected on this subject already that you can fill a library

I have been paying tax's just like everyone on this forum has for over 50 years. I'm now retired, and even though I'm fortunate to have secondary medical coverage, I still have to pay for medicare, Government prescription which I also don't need, and get taxed on my SS too!

So yes, if I can save some money that's been frivolously wasted on dead beats, and other wasteful programs, then yes I'm a cheat too.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Just because I am a foreigner doesn't mean I have to like how you do things. I accept things are different there, we have equally stupid different issues in our own country. I may debate whether things are "different" over there but this is the longest thread I have yet seen on UHH so the subject is very polarizing. I guess my point is just how hard it is to fix something that needs fixing because people let vested interests and total lack of commonsense get in the way of the best solution to a problem. A big part of this is caused by being in a capitalistic system. Your state sales tax system and the problems it is going to give you are being paralleled by our GST system. We have a GST system that is exactly the same as a Sales Tax system but they couldn't call it Sales Tax system because they did away with the Sales Tax system earlier and would have felt idiots bringing it back again. Politicians forget that we have things called "memory". The revenue extractors here don't know how to make GST payable on out of country purchases so they are trying to make it somebody elses problem with how the mechanics of it work.
I can see that as out of state, or out of country, purchases gather steam their efforts to gather the tax will become so onerous as to make life impossible with the red tape. Voluntary declarations ? You have to be kidding !
Americans interfere so much in external events that you are obviously concerned about things that happen outside the US so why can't we be concerned in the opposite direction ?

Shutterbug57

Good luck with that logic. In most states you are legally responsible for paying the tax. The stores collect it and remit because the states demand it and can more easily audit them, but the liability is yours. If you are deliberately not paying the tax to the state, you are, in fact, a tax cheat. Look it up.

ChaplainPlato Loc: Florida

" Now I know we are supposed to pay the state taxes voluntarily on our purchases from out of state businesses, but I believe not many do not"

With all respect to your rage at a company that is responding to the new rules, in the "greatest, most fabulous, really great - I'm tellin' ya, no other country has a greater tax deal", Pay your taxes. If that means you go and support the local guys then that's great, but you had little respect for your local guys for years because you could duck taxes. This is how we got into this tax deal, the rich looking out for themselves and the regular Joes being duped into thinking the middle-class is somehow better off. Just remember, companies did not have to report your transactions prior to the new tax deal. So this now becomes a middle-class tax that includes every income range. New tax buddy. Pay your freeking taxes! It costs a lot to keep this place operational and the rich guys ain't payin' a fair share.

pendennis

The states are not starved by the IRS from collection of Federal Income Taxes. The distribution of tax collections among the states is a function of either the state legislatures through legislation or by state constitutional mandates. That the state legislature "starves" local government is a political issue, not moral. The states have a finite amount of revenue from all sources, whether from state or local collections, and everyone of these jurisdictions never have enough, whether for schools, safety, roads, etc. And, like thieves, they spend their waking hours trying to figure out how to squeeze another dime from the local taxpayers. Any time people don't like the way their state and local tax dollars are spent, the next election is only months away.

Each and every time someone decides they need more constituent votes to remain in office, that someone creates another "program" to provide a benefit to a chosen constituency; whether school lunches, general welfare programs, computers for schools, or other "worthy" ideas. It's not the dearth of tax money, it's the absolute waste and corruption at every level of government. And they can always count on guilt to try and shame taxpayers into paying more.

As an example, just whose responsibility is it to insure that children are fed breakfast and lunch? This is what the nanny state is all about, and it grows every year, regardless who's in power.

The top 50% of taxpayers pay over 97% of all Federal income taxes.