2/1: Should Internet merchants charge sales tax?
Moderated by Rick Badie
Scott Hellman wants his furniture business in Kennesaw to have a level playing field. He says Internet merchants who don’t charge sales taxes hold an edge. Below, he explains how the arrangement hurts small-business owners.
And retail association executive Rick McAllister lobbies for a state law to close the tax loophole. But there’s another point of view, too. What do you think?
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13 comments Add your comment
Shine
February 1st, 2012
9:17 am
Outlaw all sales taxes including splost, lost, and tsplost is the way to go. The sooner the better and that would be the best tax cuts to free up money to help the economy.
commoncents
February 1st, 2012
8:39 am
LInk for the Amazon comment?
don't raise individual taxes
January 31st, 2012
10:28 pm
How is this “moderated” by Rick Badie? Both individuals are on the same side of the argument and want Amazon to collect sales tax for the State. Where are opposing views?
zeke
January 31st, 2012
9:58 pm
YES! You are not taxing the internet! You are taxing the items that are sold just as you would at Walmart! It is only fair!!
brother bill
January 31st, 2012
9:11 pm
All we need is to find a candidate who can deliver government services without taxation.
Sallie
January 31st, 2012
8:38 pm
Two points.
1. Goods and services sold over the internet are subject to sales tax if the selling organzation has nexus ( a physical presece in the taxing jurisdiction). That’s why we pay sales tax when ordering from walmart.com for exmple.It’s not that hard. Several services will handle the transcation for you, like a payroll service does for payroll.
2. The real goal of the charging internet sales tax is to broaden the definition of doing business in the state so that states can charge income taxes on corporations not located int their state.
Liz
January 31st, 2012
8:17 pm
Want to kill a weak economy? Can’t think of a better way to do it, at this time!
laurie
January 31st, 2012
7:57 pm
Amazon might be able to handle tracking all the state and local tax structures, collecting the tax, and paying the various agencies, but this would be a significant burden for the smaller online retailers. I don’t think it’s “fair” to punish online retailers to keep the playing field level for local businesses who are behind the times and not embrassing internet sales themselves.
Hillbilly D
January 31st, 2012
7:30 pm
Don’t know what the rules are now but about 20 years or so ago, we never charged sales tax on goods going out of state. It was the norm not to.
Native Atlantan
January 31st, 2012
6:14 pm
Absolutely they should.