NYCPHP Meetup

[David Krings]

(Margaret) Michele Waldman wrote:
> That's crazy.  If the store is in NJ, it should pay NJ taxes.  That's where
> the product is being sold and shipped from.
> 
> You would definitely need a cron job to keep track of the changing sales
> taxes.

There are varying approaches and they idffer from state to state. In some 
cases the state demands that any online purchase is taxed with the applicable 
tax rate of the state/county/city/borough/street corner. In other cases the 
tax only has to be paid when the seller or one of its subsidiaries or one of 
its partners involved in the deal have a physical presence in the state. And 
the of course if you do innerstate sales the tax typically applies, which for 
example makes ordering from J&R when living in upstate NY sometimes still a 
deal as they charge the 6%, not the 8% from up here.
I was always in favor of a nationwide sales tax of 10% (and drop several of 
the other dubious taxes, such as the sugar tax). It is the same all over the 
place and easy to calculate. And I'd wish that they add the tax into the sale 
price as it is done with gas. In other countries it is illegal not to quote 
the final price.

Yea, it is crazy. Keep in mind that the USA is not a federation of states, but 
a union of states. That means you need to treat New Jersey as if it was 
Australia, just that the 50 US states have a bit more in common. There are 
drastic differences among the states in regards to laws. For example, in NY it 
is legal to go topless in public for both men and women, while it is illegal 
in all other states. Some states require a medial exam prior to issuing a 
marriage license, others don't. In some states all vehicles have to stop 
before railroad crossings, in other states only trucks and buses, in other 
states no vehicle at all. The list is endless and shows that sales tax isn't 
the odd one out. Does that all rapidly inhale? Yea!

David