*** Supreme Court rules online gun purchases are now taxable

[NINEX19]

FFLs in Washington state have been uncompensated state employees for about ten years, required to collect taxes when they transfer guns purchased out of state.
I used to buy guns online to avoid the 10% tax, but now, it's worth it to me to handle a gun in advance, so I shop locally.

Yes, in WA, we even get taxed on the shipping cost of a firearm, not just the item itself. That is the part that really gets under my skin. That being said and all expenses added up (FFL transfer, shipping, taxes), around me, it is still much cheaper to buy online than to go to a local gun shop. I can usually save $50-100 or more on a transaction, if you can even find what you are looking for. I live in an are where there is "limited" selection.

Where this will hurt us more now, is not the firearm, but all the accessories; magazines, ammo, sights, reloading equipment, etc that you can not find locally.

[Doyle]

Unless you're in the same state as Amazon or one of their warehouses, they don't collect sales tax.

That used to be the case. However, in the last year or so Amazon has entered into "voluntary" agreements with all 45 states which have sales tax. Amazon knew which way the wind was blowing and got a jump on complying.

[riffraff]

I live in NH - no sales tax here, actually no income tax here either..

Next door we have MA - "Taxachusettes".

At one point they tried to collect their taxes from out of state sales to MA residents, and went as far as to request credit card sales records from some NH businesses near the borders. NH's response? Protected NH businesses by making a law, businesses are not required to provide such by law now (not that they were before but now it's explicit).

I don't know how they enforce this but I'm concerned it could negatively impact online businesses such as Amazon and Ebay where I do a lot of shopping. I wonder how it all plays out.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by Doyle

That used to be the case. However, in the last year or so Amazon has entered into "voluntary" agreements with all 45 states which have sales tax. Amazon knew which way the wind was blowing and got a jump on complying.

You made me go back and look.... oddly enough, I DO get charged tax by Amazon... sometimes.

I can't quite identify a pattern. I've been charged tax on things like diapers but not shampoo. I was taxed on a mattress, but not on bed sheets. Charged on shaving components but not on a dog bark collar.

Oh well, not really relevant to the topic at hand, but odd.

[Doyle]

Brian, is there a pattern as to WHO fulfilled your orders? People tend to think of Amazon as a single entitiy when in reality it is comprised of one really big company plus a gazillion little "partner" companies. What I'm wondering is if the tax you got charged was on orders fulfilled by Amazon itself and the orders with no tax got fulfilled by partner companies.

[Brian Pfleuger]

I think you're right. Looks like any sub-retailers don't charge the tax. Only Amazon directly.

Oh well, it's still cheaper than shopping local, even WalMart.

[Doyle]

Brian, I think the scenario you are describing is what the state of NY was going after. If I recall, they already had taxable nexus with Amazon itself but they were wanting to tie Amazon's NY nexus to the Amazon affiliates to require tax collection by them.

[TailGator]

In Florida, most groceries are exempt from sales tax. Snack items are not exempt. If a person goes into a grocery store and buys a box of breakfast bars, that sale will be exempt. However, if that same person were to go into the convenience store next door and buy a single breakfast bar off the rack, that sale would be taxable. The exact same item can be either taxed or exempt simply depending on how it is packaged.

Also in Florida, counties can enact local sales taxes. I think the cap is 1%, but I won't swear to that. In any case, it is remitted to the state and the state funnels the money back to the county.

For all the talk of software and services to manage sales tax for small businesses, those are going to be a cost that businesses bear and, in some form or another, pass on to customers. I am a small business owner, and the cost of compliance with various laws and regulations is significant; it is included in the prices of the goods and services that I provide. Personally, I do such a piddling amount of interstate shipments of items subject to sales tax that I will probably just start refusing that business if compliance involves any challenge or cost at all. The figure of 10K different taxing districts for sales tax is too daunting to contemplate for a firm of my size.

[NWPilgrim]

Increased regulation always benefits the larger companies because the increased overhead is a smaller percentage of revenues. That is why many new regulations are lobbied for by the big corps. I would not doubt that some big retailers were helping and encouraging the states that filed the case with the Courts.

It is never about govt versus business as the media lives to portray it. It is always BIG versus Little. Big govt and big biz versus small biz and individual. Guess who takes it in the shorts and who passes on the burden without a hiccup?

[FlyFish]

I live in NH - no sales tax here, actually no income tax here either.

Me too.

The lack of sales tax here has spawned a huge number of shopping malls and other retail outlets just north of the MA-NH state line. We also have state liquor stores with very attractive pricing. Back in the 70s, MA tried to prevent their residents from driving up here to buy their booze by stationing "tax agents" in the liquor store parking lots to record MA plate numbers for followup action. Our Governor at the time (can't remember who it was) ordered the NH State Police to go out and arrest them for loitering. Those charges were eventually dropped, but the tax agents got the message and went home.

I love this place.

[Evan Thomas]

This was always sort of marginally gun-related, and with the last several posts, it really isn't any more, so... closed.