Lady Diana

NO TAX WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!...WHICH WE DON'T HAVE IN WASHINGTON THESE DAYS. WE ARE TAXED TO DEATH. For the lady in Illinois, can't believe they tax you on something you did not spend....definitely illegal taxation.
I would put a penny in the blank. Ridiculous!
D in TX

AZ Jane

Exactly!!!!! But I'm going to leave this thread, because if I continue, I'm sure I will be banned for language!!

alwayslearning

Now that just plain out stinks!

institches33

Beside the sales tax (which is not final), companies are now allowed to add between 3%-5% for credit card purchases. They must post upfront if there are two prices, one for cash and one for credit cards. I don't think I remember how to use cash and only write checks when absolutely necessary. Seems like we're going backwards.

QKO

I personally run an online store, and am deeply opposed to being forced to collect sales taxes on out-of-state purchases. Collecting sales taxes on the few in-state sales we make are bad enough, and we get to pay almost $400/year for the privilege of collecting them, between our state and county business licenses.

If they pass an online federal sales tax on web purchases, I do think it will affect our business negatively, even though with that addition online shopping would still have several advantages.

Advantages include being able to get a lot of items not available in your local area, not having to go out to shop thereby saving fuel costs and time, and just the convenience of ordering something and having it show up a few days later on your doorstep.

Online shoppers often complain if they have to pay shipping on purchases. Someone has to pay for the shipping, and any free shipping given comes out of the online shop's margin. This is why most shops have a minimum purchase for free shipping, to make sure the time, packaging costs and labor are covered and they can still make a small profit. You don't have to pay shipping cost when shopping locally, but you do have to get to the store. When was the last time your local store gave you gas money to come and shop with them?

Anyway, I hope they manage to keep defeating this, but I'm not hopeful. If they do, you'll see a lot of online shops go out of business, and you'll get to pay your sales taxes to the few biggies that remain, after which they'll be able to charge you whatever they choose.

What it really comes down to is governments continually increasing greed for more money, to inflate their empires while pretending to give us more "services" that we neither want, or need. We need to shrink government, not raise taxes.

Sheila_H

For me being in Canada it's still cheaper for me to buy things on the internet even if I pay tax on the items. Does it take away from my local businesses yes, but let's face it with the economy the way it is we are all trying to cut our expenses. That is hard to do when you need to buy fabric - I pay $16.75 a yard here for fabric and I can buy the same thing in the States for $6 - 7 a yard I will eat the tax for that.

Barbie

Politicans have never seen a tax they didn't like. It starts out small percentages (to get it approved) and then excellerates. They pass all these laws and exempt themselves from them. Let them eliminate some of their cushey perks before taxing the people more.

Halo

Yep, we are over run with taxes already. The gov needs to be downsized. That is the only way to stop the runaway spending & gouging for more taxes for their miss use of OUR tax dollars. We can't run away with our spending & expect our employer to pay for it. After all, WE THE PEOPLE, are their employer. The only way to stop it is at the voting polls. We all do need to take a stand.

Favorite Fabrics

The stores don't have a choice, if they are required to collect sales tax, then they HAVE to charge sales tax, or else go to jail or pay huge fines when then they get found out.

As to shipping costs... if you have drive 20 miles to get to a brick-and-mortar store, and you have a vehicle that gets 20 miles to the gallon, then you will burn through 2 gallons of gas to get to the store and back. Where I live, that would be over $7. Which might well cover those shipping costs!

As to Keepsake Quilting... they send out those nice catalogs, which must cost them a pretty penny. I would guess that as long as they do that, they're not going to be able to sell at rock-bottom prices.

We can't have it all... at least, not at the same time... :-)

ptquilts

And sometimes it starts out "temporary" but it never seems to go away.

Where I spend winters down south, the sales tax was 9% - on EVERYTHING, including food. A few years ago they wanted to raise it to 10% - excuse, we need it for the schools. Can't say no to the kiddies, you know.

I thought for sure the voters would turn it down, 10% would be the highest sales tax in the country (it is a combination of state and local). But, no, the sheeple voted it in. Fortunately, we are not too far from a state line, so guess where we do our shopping? Save the local schools, hurt the local businesses. Brilliant.