Miguel Helft on rapacious sales and use tax collectors

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: For consideration for Politech
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:22:21 -0800
From: Helft, Miguel <MHelft () mercurynews com>
To: 'Declan McCullagh' <declan () well com>

Millions of tax cheats
YOU DIDN'T PAY SALES TAX ON THAT AMAZON BOOK, DID YOU?
By Miguel Helft


You're probably a tax cheat.

(Don't worry. No one is likely to come after you.)

If you bought a copy of ``Dude, Where's My Country?'' from Amazon.com, a
Prada handbag on eBay or a pair of Bean Boots from L.L. Bean this year,
chances are you've broken the law. Unless, that is, you add up all those
purchases and pay 8.25 percent of the total (the sales tax rate in Santa
Clara County) to the state.

You might even be a serial cheater if you've been buying from catalogs or on
the Web for some time. But this year the state tax collectors will be in
your face, figuratively speaking. They've drawn a line, literally, right on
the state income tax forms where you're supposed to report the little known
use tax.
[....]
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/8093491.htm


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