Upcoming Events
Poll
Internet tax would be equitable
THE ISSUE: Internet sales tax bill in the Legislature.
OUR OPINION: Sales tax should be fair to all merchants.
Once again, our state Legislature is debating a bill that would close the “loophole” that allows many Internet sales to be untaxed.
Under state law, all Internet sales are subject to state sales tax. If the vendor does not charge the tax, individual purchasers are supposed to pay it. However, very few individuals voluntarily fill out tax forms and send sales taxes on their Internet purchases to the Department of Revenue.
Legislation to collect all taxes on Internet sales has bounced around the Legislature from time to time since 2002. Generally, local businesses and chambers of commerce have supported collecting sales taxes on Internet purchases, while large online retailers have opposed the idea.
When Internet businesses first began offering merchandise online, not requiring them to pay sales tax offered an incentive for this new form of marketing and may have been justified as a way of allowing a new form of marketing to become established.
However, since then, major online marketers such as Amazon.com have grown to the point where they are a major player in retail markets, and as local merchants are quick to point out, they have an immediate 6 percent price advantage over local brick-and-mortar businesses because they do not collect sales taxes.
According to state estimates, the state loses almost a half billion dollars in sales taxes annually through untaxed Internet sales. The bill now before the Legislature — Senate Bill 1514 — would require any business with a physical presence such as a warehouse or distribution center in the state to pay state sales tax on purchases by Florida residents.
While we question the wisdom of some of the amendments to the bill that would require sales tax holidays to offset revenues, we support the concept of the bill, nicknamed the “e-fairness bill,” because it would level the playing field between Internet retailers and local businesses that hire local workers, pay local taxes and support local communities.
Add new comment
Read and share your thoughts on this story
Ad Gallery
Copyright © 2012
ChronicleOnline is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Citrus County, FL and the surrounding area.
Florida internet tax
One thing they fail to mention is there are a lot of internet businesses in Florida. This could force a good portion of the small ones out of business.
Why? Because they will lose some sales and these little guys are just scraping buy as it is.
If you really want another tax, at least let the federal government do it with one set of rules and one tax rate. Could you imagine the hassle for for a business in Idaho that has to maintain the sales tax rules and regulations for all the other states?? You can bet no small internet seller will be able to afford just the cost of the collections, record keeping and distributions to 50 states.
Of course this may help the bigger internet companies to drive out their smaller competition. That may even be the present reason the powers that be now have decided to do this in a down economy. Greased palms and taxes go together. In reality, this tax would be anything but equitable.
Taxing the Internet
The state of Florida does not have authority to tax interstate commerce. The internet has allowed people to inexpensively and easily conduct business across state lines. This fact means that although I was in Florida when I purchased my latest book, the seller was in some other state; clearly an interstate commercial transaction, as I imported the book from Ohio to Florida, the sale actually crossed four state lines.
If I had looked at book titles in a printed catalog, then mailed a check to the company, and waited 8 weeks for the delivery by snail-mail, nobody would be saying that that sale was taxable. Internet sales are no different than catalog sales of 100 years ago, the only difference is the ease and inexpensive nature of using the internet and UPS over a printed catalog and snail-mail. Because both publishing and communicating have gotten easier, faster, and cheaper, doesn't change the fact that the sale is interstate, not local, and hence not subject to taxation by the state of Florida.
This does not penalize local business, but it does force it to compete. Shipping usually costs more than the 6% sales tax, so it is a lie to say the price advantage is the culprit. The $0.60 cent tax on a $10 book, is less than the $3 to $5 shipping cost for that same book. That argument is a lie.
In his example the cause is competition where the local book store may have a few thousand titles to choose from the online book seller has tens of thousands of choices, and at better prices. Obviously to compete the local book seller would have to purchase tens of thousands more books, and have a larger facility, etc. Taxing interstate commerce which happens to have become quick and easy because of modern communication through the internet is just more cronyism to protect businessmen from completion. It will simply cost the average person more, and grant more power to government and their business cronies.
Taxes
well said Tom, I agree fully..
Don
taxes on Internet
In all fairness with purchasing on the Internet, the main reason people use this is to save money, I know that might hurt some Brick and Mortar but competition is good.
Also most purchases on the Internet you pay shipping charges so i don't believe people buy from the Internet to escape paying sales taxes,
so I don't really see the 6% advantage to Internet sales as the shipping charges make up most of that..