Thumper26

On 6/1/19, sales tax became due and payable from all purchasers buying on the web to the purchaser's home state (if that state has a sales tax). The law now states there need not be a physical presence in the purchaser's home state for sales tax to be due and payable. In eBay's case, there are two charges because there are two "vendors", the seller and eBay. eBay, under the law, is required to collect the sales tax, so a separate charge will be added to the sale and show for sales tax.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Not quite correct. The tax has always been due for state with a sales tax. It was required to be paid by the buyer on the state income tax form. Many people evaded it since it was unlikely they would get caught. The new law says the merchant must collect the tax.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

I wonder how many will carry a balance on their B&H/Payboo credit cards (a "gift" from B&H?)? The 30% interest rate will make up for the "gift" you are getting.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

Not true for all. See my link back to eBay's current tax collection policy. They do not collect for all states that impose a sales tax.

Thruxton Loc: Indiana / California

For the last 40yrs of retailing in Californistan we collected sales tax and sent it off to the "State Board of Equalization" every month. But individuals without a resale number (license) not engaged primarily in retail sales were not required to collect sales tax nor could they have reported it. I don't get it. Will the ladies at the church rummage sale now have to collect sales tax? Is eBay collecting sales tax for individual private sales or only for their commercial vendors? The potential for confusion is beginning to make me nervous.

47greyfox Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The resale exception was only for things which are resold or made into something which would then be sold and have sales tax charged. For instance, photographers who did their own printing didn't have to pay sales tax to buy photo paper, since they would resell it as photographs and then charge sales tax. The idea is to not charge tax for something twice - only the end user has to pay sales tax.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Why be nervous? The ladies of the rummage sale can find out from an accountant or their state what their responsibilities/liabilities are.

If you are a buyer, you don't get into trouble if a seller does not fulfill their responsibility. The seller does.

Confusion as what....a seller or a buyer? If a buyer, pay the sales tax if charged it. Be happy if it's not.

ecar Loc: Oregon, USA

OH my blood pressure is high again! Boy do I know, our politicians are selling us out. Taxes are way beyond need for the country. Socialism is at our door. And the Dumb F.... Politicians actually think that 50% of us will go to work to support, say the others who don't want to work. And those who can't are a very small minority, not even worth mentioning.

Here is a little write-up worth reading, and shows the problem is story form:

How Our Tax System Works

Let's put our tax system in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like
this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the
cost of your daily meal by $20."

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay
their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But
what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each
man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the
amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare
their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to
the tenth man "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all.
The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the
tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down
and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered
something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D
Distinguished Professor of Economics
536 Brooks Hall
University of Georgia

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

Not so. Missouri only requires use tax on items purchased out of state for a business, and for items that have to be registered with the state (vehicles, planes and boats, that I know of.) I'm confident MO is not the ONLY state that realized it would never collect enough use tax from private citizen purchases to cover the cost of maintaining the collection apparatus.

Hammer Loc: London UK

Yes, Jerry , it is a right **^&*%.

But is helps solve problem of unfair competition for local businesses . losing those will cost even more .

Now , if the various Treasuries are getting more money then surely the tax rate should drop. Never seems to happen . Now that is unfair and deceptive.