Internet Sales Taxes

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Robert Atkinson <rca53 () columbia edu>
> Date: May 21, 2008 10:07:38 AM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: For IP: Internet Sales Taxes

> Dave,
>
> A call in Wall St. Journal for imposing sales taxes on internet  
> commerce:
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/portals.html
>
> Excerpts:
>
> Real World Needs 'Net' Taxes
> May 21, 2008; Page B9
>
> Do you think that billionaire Internet moguls should continue to  
> benefit from a tax loophole that hurts parks and schools, and makes  
> it harder for your neighborhood bookstore to keep open for business?
>
> I didn't think you did.
>
> ***
>
> For starters, by giving online businesses a permanent advantage over  
> their bricks-and-mortar competitors, it helps those who need it  
> least -- huge, profitable e-commerce companies -- at the expense of  
> often-struggling local retailers.
>
> In addition, the tax policy is regressive. It disproportionately  
> benefits the upscale citizens most likely to shop online. Worst of  
> all, as commerce increasingly moves online, state and local  
> governments are being deprived of the sales-tax revenues they rely  
> on to run schools, build roads, pay police and firefighters, and do  
> all the other things they're supposed to do.
>
> A dozen years ago, one might have been able to make the case that a  
> holiday on collecting sales tax would help the fledgling Internet  
> get off the ground. I don't think that was particularly true even in  
> 1996; it certainly isn't now.
>
> ***
>
> Opponents of the tax collection are fond of the effective but  
> dishonest slogan that collecting a sales tax would amount to a new  
> "tax on the Internet." But making Amazon collect sales tax on books  
> is no more "taxing the Internet" than requiring stores to collect  
> taxes on Valentine's Day chocolates amounts to "taxing falling in  
> love."



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