Taxation of all Internet Sales: I told you so!

Written by Larry Waters Saturday, 23 May 2009 17:47

Back o Internet ban on tobacco sales and more... n September 26th, 2008, I wrote a brilliant article on what came to be known as the PACT Act. This article, entitled Cigarettes, Snus, ALL Tobacco (except cigars): Internet Purchases to be Banned in the United States?, focused on Rep. Weiner (D-NY) and his attempt to prohibit delivery of all tobacco products (except cigars) to American consumers.

The caveat was that IF the delivery driver could establish the recipient was of legal age (through a new free government database) AND ensure "all applicable State and Federal taxes were collected", then tobacco products could be delivered.

In my stunning and insightful conclusion, I revealed that tobacco was the means to an end, not the true purpose of PACT. The True purpose was to ensure sales tax was collected on ALL Internet purchases.

It's eight months later, the names of the bills have been changed since expiring in the 110th Congress, but have been resurrected in the 111th.

This article, Tax-Free Internet Shopping may be at an End, by Declan McCullugh for cnet News, validates my theory.

I take no joy in this nor should any American. Taxation of all Internet purchases will only serve to depress Internet sales universally. Many small and home-based Internet sites will be unable to afford the mechanisms necessary to collect and transfer sales tax money to all 50 States. They will go out of business.

Since the greedy State Governments are basing their Internet tax receipts on current and previous year total Internet sales, they will spend that money before realizing much less is coming in than before. Their solution will be to raise the tax on Internet purchases, further depressing Internet sales.

With a pack of Marlboro cigarettes currently costing, after tax, $9.50 in New York City, or as much as $12.00 a pack in downtown Chicago, is it any wonder smokers have turned to the Internet, Indian reservations, and other means to obtain cigarettes?

Taxing everything purchased on the internet from toys to clothes to electronics and yes, to tobacco, will further depress the American Economy at the worst possible time.

It will also create an incredibly huge black market economy where no taxes are paid. Ironically (or typically) the PACT Act's justification is based on stopping the so-called terrorist black market in cigarettes! Instead of putting out a candle, PACT will start a six-alarm fire the likes of which this country has never seen.

Once again, Washington creates more problems then currently exist. Who pays for that? We do; the American citizen.

California, facing a $24BB budget shortfall this year, is eliminating child health-care programs, welfare programs, firing teachers, and making other draconian slashes to the budget to stay solvent. People are calling for a revision to the California State Constitution outlining just what the State's true responsibility is to the citizens. Many call this long overdue.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, President Obama seems intent; even fixated, on exponentially increasing so-called entitlement programs, nationalizing the banks and the automotive industry, and creating a National Health Care Program we can't afford.

America has the best and most sophisticated health care system on the planet. Mr. Obama prefers we model ourselves after the failed systems of Canada and the EU where people wait 9 months for an M Mr. Obama needs Swedish Snus! RI. Is it any wonder the wealthy in those counties come to the United States for treatment of their personal ills?

Is health care reform needed? Absolutely. Eliminate the massive amounts of paperwork and bureaucratic road-blocks facing doctors and hospitals today is the first, very needed step.

Reducing all this and the massive amount of people in the Government to the individual doctor's office necessary to comply with this insane bureaucracy will slash health care costs and insurance premiums. Sadly, that is not the path President Obama is taking us down.

Buckle up, America. Bad as the economy is, the road's about to take yet another sharp turn down-hill as the budget deficit will continue to rise through the trillions of dollars.

A nation founded on Taxation without Representation is now collapsing because of Taxation without Representation. Big Government only serves itself now. Big Government's survival is all that matters. The people will just be dragged along for the ride.

Snusing as America Crumbles,

LARRY WATERS
America's Leading Activist Snus Guru
Reporting From SnusCENTRAL.org

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9 Comments

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Larry Waters makes this comment

Monday, 30 March 2009

Thanks Aaron! I appreciate that.

Larry
Steve makes this comment

Sunday, 24 May 2009

Very good read Larry I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for posting this.
Fred H-H makes this comment

Monday, 25 May 2009

Interstate commerce is exempt from state sales taxes, isn't it?
Larry Waters makes this comment

Monday, 25 May 2009

Thanks, Steve!.................Fred, not exactly. If you live in Ohio and order something over the Internet from Florida, you can not be charged Florida Sales Tax.....If the company in Florida has a physical presence in Ohio, then they should charge you Ohio sales tax.......In either case, if you are not charged Ohio sales tax, you are supposed to volunteer to contact the State and send them a check for the Ohio Sales Tax. You can count on one hand the number of people who do that......The new law would require the Florida company to collect the Ohio Sales Tax from you at the time of purchase and send it to Ohio. Imagine a small eStore trying to sort out the tax rates, paperwork, and regulations of 50 States on what is taxable, what is not, what the sales tax is for your town/city (in some States, Sales Tax is not uniform for the whole State. In "Development Zones", the Sales Tax could be half the normal State amount...in other cases, cities and municipalities can add a penny or two to the Sales Tax for residents of those places..and there are even wackier quirks too)...What all 50 States have in common is if a company or store makes a mistake, they get hit with huge fines. Little eStores can't afford that.........New York State mandated earlier this year that Amazon.com must collect and pay to NY State, Sales Tax on any item purchased from Amazon and shipped to NY State.........Amazon.com took them to court...The NY State Supreme Court ruled against Amazon and for the State of NY..........With the new laws, you will wake up one day and every single order for anything you place over the Internet (including countries outside the US) will now have a line item stating the amount of money you will be charged for your home State's Sales Tax before it gives you the transaction total.....The bigger we allow government to grow, the more of our income they will take......Larry
StratMan172 makes this comment

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

That's funny, I just read that article a few days ago and now I read this one. I love how open ended they can propose things. I remember in the article from 8 months ago you quoted the bill (or whatever it is) and it says something along the lines of "To regulate tobacco etc. etc. etc. AND OTHER PURPOSES" Such broad terms should never be allowed in politics.
Larry Waters makes this comment

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Hi Scott! Unfortunately, broad terms in Congressional bills are the norm; not the exception. Sometimes it's good as Congress doesn't have the expertise to micro-manage or design a program they want; they just want the program....Too many other times, it's just flat-out abused.......The only good news I heard from our SnusCIA agent in Washington is that with Congress so focused on Kennedy/Waxman and some other bills, The reintroduction of PACT isn't getting much traction...at least yet. We shall see...Larry
danritter1980 makes this comment

Thursday, 28 May 2009

Big Tobacco is threatened, Big Pharma doesn't want cancer rates to fall and they both have very powerful lobbyists with no shortage of Smiley Glad Handed politicians. We don't live in a free market where the people decide what products live and die. We live in a socialist/facist regime in which every thing you put into your body and see on TV and hear on the radio is carefully monitored to keep us feeding the system. The VERY few politicians that still care for the people are too busy worrying about our civil liberties being stripped, our guns being taken away, our dollar's freefall, hyperinflation, the rogue FED, etc. Our great govenment is also working on limiting the internet and outlawing vitamin supplements without a prescription. Government waits for times of crisis to implement laws that ordinarily wouldn't pass because everyone is fighting a different battle. People are worried about their jobs, homes, cars, credit and feeding their children. It is all too easy for them to pass a law banning harm reduction products like snus and Ecigs when the majority of tobacco users still don't know they exist. They don't want you healthy. Healthy people don't go to the doctor and get the latest pill they saw in a commercial during American Idol. Every time they affect a different person with another BS law or regulation they open new eyes to their tyranny. Now we just need people to see the big picture and fight as a people against repression.
Larry Waters makes this comment

Thursday, 28 May 2009

Daniel, it's worse than even you think. H.R. 1676, The PACT Act of 2009 has overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives and has moved to the Senate...........PACT and a companion bill, H.R. 1400 which as I read 1676, seems to have been incorporated into H.R. 1676, will effectively BAN the sale of Cigarettes AND all forms of Smokeless Tobacco from being delivered to individual consumers within the United States......of course Cigars were exempted......I have it on good authority that the Senate version, which last session was almost identical to the House version of PACT, will be reconciled quickly and easily with the House version and sent to President Obama....The President has indicated strongly that he will sign PACT into law.......The winners? Big Tobacco with an established over-the-counter retail network. Another winner? The Federal Government and State Governments who will be able to collect enormous amounts of new "revenues" with Internet and Indian Reservation sales out of the picture.........The Losers? Who else; American Tobacco Consumers (except cigar smokers). Taxation without Representation indeed!
ponysoprano makes this comment

Friday, 29 May 2009

Well done, nice article. Your insight into bureaucratic shadiness is unparalleled as usual! You continue to hit the nail on the head regarding tobacco in our country and many other issues. Kudos!