[sbeaulieu]

Yay! Another way get us to pay more taxes.

Taxing Online Sales

If I were an online retailer, I'd set up shop in a tax-free state and call it a day.

~ Shane

[anonrobt]

sbeaulieu, on Apr 17 2009, 08:20 PM, said:

Yay! Another way get us to pay more taxes.

Taxing Online Sales

If I were an online retailer, I'd set up shop in a tax-free state and call it a day.

~ Shane

And what state would that be?

[Selene]

The state of freedom?

I prefer multiple choice question.

[Michael E. Marotta]

anonrobt, on Apr 18 2009, 01:18 PM, said:

sbeaulieu, on Apr 17 2009, 08:20 PM, said:

Yay! Another way get us to pay more taxes.
Taxing Online Sales
If I were an online retailer, I'd set up shop in a tax-free state and call it a day.
~ Shane

And what state would that be?

• Alaska -- There is no state sales tax in Alaska; however, local governments (boroughs and their municipalities) may levy up to 7%, and 108 of them do so.[4] Municipal sales taxes are collected in addition to borough sales taxes, if any. Regulations and exemptions vary widely across the state.[5] Anchorage and Fairbanks do not charge a local sales tax.
  
• Arizona -- Arizona has a transaction privilege tax (TPT) that differs from a "true" sales tax in that the tax is levied on the gross receipts of the vendor and is not a liability of the consumer.[6] (As explained in Arizona Administrative Code rule R15-5-2202,[7] vendors are permitted to pass the amount of the tax on to the consumer, but remain the liable parties for the tax to the state.) TPT is imposed under sixteen tax classifications (as of November 1, 2006),[8] with the tax rate most commonly encountered by Arizona consumers (e.g., for retail transactions) set at 5.6%. The current tax as of 2009 is 6.3%,[9] though cities and counties can add as much as 6% to the total rate.[10] Food for home consumption and prescription drugs (including legend drugs and certain prescribed homeopathic medication) are two of many items of tangible personal property that are statutorily exempt from the retail TPT. Arizona's TPT is one of the few excise taxes in the country imposed on contracting activities rather than sales of construction materials.[11]
  
• Delaware -- Delaware does not assess a sales tax on consumers. The state does, however, impose a tax on the gross receipts of most businesses. Business and occupational license tax rates range from 0.096 percent to 1.92 percent, depending upon the category of business activity.
  
• Hawaii -- Hawaii does not have a sales tax, but it does have an excise tax which applies to nearly every conceivable type of transaction (including services), and is technically charged to the business rather than the consumer. Unlike other states, rent, medical services and perishable foods are subject to the excise tax. Also, unlike other states, businesses may or may not show the tax separately on the receipt, as it is technically part of the selling price. 4.0% is charged at retail with an additional 0.5% surcharge in the City and County of Honolulu (for a total of 4.5% on Oahu sales), and 0.5% is charged on wholesale [7]. However the state also allows "tax on tax" to be charged, which effectively means a customer is billed 4.166% (4.712% on Oahu). The exact dollar or percentage amount to be added must be quoted to customers within or along with the price. The 0.5% surcharge on Oahu was implemented to fund the new rail transport system. [34] The use of an excise tax means that tax-exempt non-profit organizations must pay the tax, unlike states where they are exempt from sales taxes.
  
  
• Montana -- Montana does not have a state sales tax but some municipalities which are big tourist destinations, such as Whitefish, Red Lodge, Big Sky, and West Yellowstone, have a small sales tax (0.25%).
  
• New Hampshire -- New Hampshire is one of only five states that do not impose any form of general sales tax on the sale or use of tangible personal property within the state. New Hampshire does, however, levy a tax on meals, room occupancies, motor vehicle rentals, and use of electricity (55 cents per megawatt-hour) and phone services (7 percent). A transfer tax is levied on real estate sales, currently 0.15 percent. In New Hampshire, any food or beverage that is prepared and served by a "restaurant," whether served for consumption on or off the restaurant premises, is considered to be a meal. Excluded from the tax is any food and beverage that is wholly packaged off the premises and sold in the original package, such as chips, candy, soda or fruit beverages in sealed containers, and frozen novelties. Catered or delivered meals or party platters are taxable, as are charges for any service or items related to preparing or serving the food (plates, ovens, etc). Restaurants include most places where you can buy any food. There are several other exceptions. For example, meals served or furnished on the premises of a religious or charitable nonprofit organization are not taxable, nor are bakery products sold in quantity of 6 or more servings, or a whole pie, cake, or loaf of bread with multiple servings. The New Hampshire meals and rooms tax rate is 8% on any amount over 35 cents (including any alcohol served on premise). The rooms tax is imposed on any occupancy in a hotel, house, apartment, dormitory, camp, cottage or any similar establishment offering sleeping accommodations in the State of New Hampshire, for any rental less than 185 days, not including bare campsites without shelter. The tax rate is currently 8% of the rent for each occupancy. A motor vehicle rental tax is imposed under the meals and room tax classification at a rate of 8% on the gross rental receipts of each rental, but not including separately itemized fuel, insurance or damage charges. Gasoline tax is 20.6¢ per gallon. Cigarettes: $1.08 per pack. Beer: 30¢ per gallon.
  
• New Mexico -- The state of New Mexico does not have a sales tax. It instead has a statewide gross receipts tax of 5%, with municipalities assessing an additional gross receipts tax. The gross receipts tax rate is between 5.125% and 8.4375% throughout the state.[60] In New Mexico's gross receipts tax, all receipts from sales of goods or service within the state are taxed (with the exception of food for offsite consumption, such as grocery store sales). The state does not prohibit retailers from collecting this tax directly from the consumer, so the gross receipts tax is commonly just passed on from the retailer to the consumer as if it were a sales tax.
  
• Oregon -- Oregon has no statewide sales tax, although local municipalities may impose sales taxes if they so choose. The city of Ashland, for example, charges a 5% sales tax on prepared food. Several Oregon communities assess sales taxes on lodging.

Article and chart here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_i...e_United_States

This post has been edited by Michael E. Marotta: 18 April 2009 - 12:17 PM

[general semanticist]

Micheal, as Jane Austen would have said, you are indeed a man of information. We call those transaction taxes GST (goods and services tax) up here, which is applied federally (5%). The provinces also have their own sales taxes PST (provincial sales tax) on top of that. Some provinces, like mine, combine them and call it HST (harmonized sales tax, 13%). Isn't it great how many ways the government gets money from us??