MacWannabe said:
"Several states have tried to “encourage” mail order and internet suppliers to collect and pay the use tax for sales within those jurisdictions. The state governments of North Carolina and South Dakota, for example, will purchase goods and services only from companies that collect sales tax on all sales in the state. This is an option that may be available to local governments, as well."
Okay,
everyone please read closely as I will state this one more time and then I won't continue to hijack this thread or repeat what I have said. :black:
Again,
I never said that online retailers are required, obligated or in any other way made to collect sales tax on sales they make. You are correct in that the state governments currently have no way to make online retailers collect tax for the sales they make. MacWannabe, you have quoted me three times saying I was incorrect. You have made that quite clear that online retailers don't have to collect taxes and I have not once contested that fact, therefore I confused as to why anyone would think I was incorrect in what I posted. If you can show that I have contested your remarks about that, then I apologize.
What I have said is that tax is due on sales when the state charges sales tax.
I never said that the online retailers had to pay it, had to collect it or had to report it. It would technically be the buyer's responsibility in that case. Quoting from your article again:
Consumers who live in a state that collects sales tax are technically required to pay the tax to the state even when an Internet retailer doesn't collect it
Again, I only said that the tax is due, not that the retailer had to collect or pay it.
MacWannabe said:
That's not correct. Sales tax is only owed to a State when the sale occurs IN the state. An internet sales does not occur in the state, therefore there is no tax due.
Technically, internet sales
do occur in the state you live in. You order the product online, from your computer, in your home in your own state. It wouldn't be difficult to prove that either.
If I were to physically go to the state that doesn't charge tax and make the purchase in person, then no, I don't have to pay or report any tax on the item. I do this from time to time when I visit my sister in Delaware, as they have no sales tax there.
So, to recap:
Retailers are
not required to collect or charge the sales tax for those states that have sales tax.
In the event that the retailer
does not collect the tax, the
buyer is
technically required to do so himself if he lives in a state that has sales tax.
Taxes
are due in a state that has sales tax. Period.
"In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes." ~ Benjamin Franklin
:black: