jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

Good thought.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Interesting. You say you are going to use a local Brick and Mortar store now because there would be no more cost savings using B&H. REALLY? B&H gives me 4% back on my purchases. Following that your $3000.00 in purchases would bring you $120.00 that you can use on future purchases. At least, that's what B&H gives me on my Nikon purchases. And, even if you have to pay taxes, so what, it's still 4% more than that local Brick and Mortar store is going to give you. So, your really want to give up the 4%? Doesn't make "cents" to me.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

The bottom line is tax exemption for web sales has decimated local stores and community coffers nationwide.

Any entity given a tax exempt status that their competition doesn’t have its the gubmint giving preference to one group over another.

The funny thing is that in my experience those who complain the loudest that others aren’t paying their fair share are also the same ones trying to beat the taxman the hardest.

Bill29707 Loc: Greenville, NC

Our local store will match prices with others including B&H. Just take an ad or the sales page in and they will accept it. I like to support our local stores.
Bill

Jiggyb21

I live in Vermont. About six months ago Amazon started charging me tax but not every single purchase. I too received the same letter from b and h. They also notified Vermont of my purchases. The karma for me was that I ordered my a7riii from b and h to save the tax money instead of using Amazon. On release day, when countless people were enjoying their new purchase, I watched and waited another 2 weeks for ups to find my camera.

jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

I sell Broadcast Video pro Audio and lighting. I use to average $150 a month in box sales. My main business is integration (design sell install). Many projects are $400k and up. One church spent $3.4 mil. Most customers of mine are churches. But last year my box sales went down a lot. I get the calls for advice of course. One church studio in Florida bought over $300,000 mainly from Amazon. Honestly I could have saved them some money but amazon gets gear fast and who wants to talk to a sales guy if you know what you want. I get it. I’m kearning to adapt.

Wanda Krack Loc: Tennessee, USA

How about those of us who do not have a local brick and mortar store that has adequate equipment for sale.......we still pay the state sales tax, and I don't see a problem with that. I can just imagine the nightmare stores such as B&H will have, keeping track of all of the different state taxes. Perhaps they have a computer system that will automatically add the different state taxes as they are ordered online. The smaller online stores might be the ones most impacted. I will continue to purchase online because of the variety of product offered.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

Ummm, I live in Florida now but lived in and visit PA often. The federal and state highways (especially the interstates) are in decent shape and constantly being resurfaced, upgraded and maintained. It is the state, county and local roads that are being ignored for "other" purposes. I was in PA last summer and was traveling west on 76 and then south on 81 heading (generally back to Florida. Both Interstates were in excellent shape (with the exception of ongoing construction and improvements). These roads were no better nor worse than ANY of the Federal highways in the Southeast. Now, roads in and around Philadelphia, Warminster, Willow Grove and up to but not including Trenton, were under construction/repair and were okay but poorly marked. These were (mainly) state roads and some interstates. Local roads were bad to horrible but this had very little to do with upkeep. Much of the repair in those areas has to do with the insane amount of traffic and desire NOT to teardown or move buildings in place of roads. The northeast part of PA is choked with pre-revolutionary towns that have grown insanely but the road system still reflects paved over horse trails. Many 4 lane roads in the Philadelphia, New Hope, Warminster, King of Prussia area have areas of straight runs that suddenly jog around some old building, restaurant, office structure, church or barn that has been there since 1800 or before. Now, I'm not saying tear the building down or move it, I'm saying that what is going on is that the road was "designed" by some civil servant that never visited (drove, walked, or researched) the proposed location and so knee jerk construction caused work fixes that are poorly thought out. Had the highway/road been moved 100 yards one way or the other, the building would have been avoided completely. However, in one case, moving the roadway 100 yards one way would have put the roadway going through a very large (and probably lucrative donation for the county/state officials) property with a large chemical plant and 100 yards the other way would have run the road through some large and prosperous churches and a city hall (possibly even the person that was responsible for the project's) offices. The Northeastern United States and to a lesser degree the entire east coast is a hodgepodge of roads because the cramped history of the villages, towns, cities and states goes back to and before the revolutionary war where the rest of the country was wide open and had much more space and smaller populations to deal with. If a road through Eufaula Oklahoma (a town that can only trace it's written history back to Indian Territory) has issues and the building is not of great historical value, then they bulldoze it and go on. In the Northeast and east coast, you can't throw a rock without hitting a building or site that has some historical value. Don't get me wrong! I'm not saying that there is a solution to the issues in Pennsylvania/New Jersey etc. I'm just explaining the issues and road construction (and to a lesser degree other buildings) are all affected by these restrictions. Roads are more impacted because they stretch for miles in any direction where a high rise building might only have a footprint of a couple of hundred square yards.
I don't know what the solution is but this is the problem of road construction (as I see it) in the eastern (northeastern) US. It is also an issue on the west coast to a certain degree. The other issue is that the lack of availability of land makes right of way purchase extremely expensive. a 100 million dollar road project in the Philadelphia area (or New York City, New Haven Connecticut, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Savanah Georgia), is extremely more expensive than the same project in Stillwater Oklahoma or El Paso Texas. This isn't due to anything but economy. A 6 square block of land for construction in Long Island or New York City is going to cost a whole lot more than a 6 square block of land in El Paso Texas.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Will your local store give you the extra 4% back from your purchases like B&H?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The fault lies with the state, not with the stores. I find it hard to justify charging sales tax on a sale that occurred in a different state, but that's what they do. If I buy a car in NH, I have to pay NY sales tax on it when i register it. There's no justification, only greed.

Still, it's not just the savings in sales tax that online stores offer. I have bought lots of things from B&H and Adorama, even though they are in my state, and I have to pay taxes. They have good prices, good selections, good service. My local camera store charged me $100 over list for a D7000. Years later, I priced a D600, and they were charging $100 over list for that.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I agree Jerry. If I purchase a product from Adorama, B&H etc. and don't pay sales tax, it isn't the local government's business. Shipping was either paid by me or in the purchase of the item. Fuel taxes were paid by the shipping company on all of the vehicles used to transport the item from New York to it's destination, and no local services were used (except the Fed-Ex, UPS, USPS delivery) which were paid for in the shipping costs. Taxes (in property, gas, utility, and others) have already been collected by the local government and complaining that the local government missed getting to tax something that they had NO part in is pure greed. Or it is cow towing to local business interest because the local store didn't get to gouge you. If I am in a hurry and need something quickly, I may buy locally. However, in the Clearwater area, the ONLY local "camera" store is Best (worst) Buy. The ONLY business I give them is if I have an emergency and need something quickly. Oh, and if they weren't here, it wouldn't be a deal killer, I would probably wait for an order or pay for overnight. The only things I purchase from them is stuff like a card reader. Otherwise, I go to places with better selection and more knowledgeable associates. Also, if I can, I will get stuff from Walmart before I go to Best Buy.

bellgamin Loc: Ewa Beach, Hawaii

Non-collection of sales taxes is a good thing. Sales taxes are very repressive in that a poor person pays the same tax on a loaf of bread as does a wealthy person. Graduated taxes on income stink, but they are much less repressive than most any other kind of taxation.

Sales taxes are one of the unfairest tax methods that exist. Totally repressive. But they are easier to collect & administer than other tax methods -- that is why governments love them.

Instead of trying to force online businesses to become their tax collectors, local governments need to develop other sources/methods of obtaining tax revenues.

johnbhome2 Loc: Wyoming, Michigan

Not to worry!!!!! Just use your Trump savings on your income tax to pay the state.

markmmmm

any company that does not work with all states to ensure proper tax payment is foolish and potentially facing trouble for not supporting tax law. The world of internet purchases has changed over the past 18 months. Smell the coffee folks, time to wake up to reality. You are going to pay state tax, if your state has it. Also if you do not report your purchase to your state, they may come after with penalties and more. Life has changed.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

This discussion has been going on for years now in all states. Most states require that you 'voluntarily' declare and pay a Use Tax (not the full Sales Tax) on merchandise purchased outside of the state and brought in or delivered by a third party (or brought in by the resident). Since voluntary payment is not the number one priority the purchaser, some states have negotiated with some major on-line parties to collect sales tax. And some retailers, such as B&H, may have an agreement with a state as well. B&H actually may have an employee who resides in Colorado. In that event, they must collect a use tax. You can refer to Colorado tax rulings as follows:
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Retailer%E2%80%99s%20Use%20Tax%20Private%20Letter%20Ruling%20PLR%2017-005.pdf
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Colorado%20Sales%20or%20Use%20Tax%20Private%20Letter%20Ruling%20PLR%2016-011.pdf
As you can see from the dates, all of this discussion has preceded the discussion and passage of the new tax reform act.
It is better to be informed than make a statement of what one 'believes' to be true.
FWIW....