

Senators look to extend ban on Internet taxes - 6thSigma
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/280225-senators-look-to-extend-ban-on-internet-taxes

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charonn0
The bill sounds like a reasonable idea.

I can see taxing purchases according to the sales tax rates of the buyer's
state. There might even be a business niche among payment processors,
providing geo-location (or customer-provided) tax lookups integrated into a
shopping cart service. Paypal and Amazon probably already have preliminary
designs sketched out.

Taxing _access_ , however seems like it would take the growth of the Internet
in the wrong direction. The bill would prevent this, if enacted.

Dare I say it? Good one, Washington!

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chii
> I can see taxing purchases according to the sales tax rates of the buyer's
> state.

i would prefer to see tax rate set at the "seller" country, not the buyer's. I
hate regional pricing. Setting tax rate for the "seller" instead would mean
that countries (or states?) have to compete on taxes, which will force gov't
to better utilize resources instead of adding taxes for inefficiencies.

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charonn0
If we tax by the seller's location then the sellers will move, at least on
paper, to those states whose laws are most convenient. Much like various
island nations today list fortune 500 companies in their chambers of commerce.
Also, Delaware.

By using the buyer's location to determine taxes, states will still be
competing tax-wise; it would be healthy competition, as opposed to a
competition where the winning move is one to the Bahamas.

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hayksaakian
If that logic held, then the buyer would move to the state with the lowest
taxes in order to pay less on everything they buy. This is not reality.

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logn
People factor this in all the time. It's reality when considering a new job or
retirement. You often see articles on the tax implications of living somewhere
and it's factored in to many of the "most livable city" lists.

And even though it's usually illegal not to report it on a tax return, people
cross state lines a lot for purchases (cigarettes, alcohol, electronics).
Portland for instance has no sales tax while its very close neighbor
Washington has no income tax.

This could all play out with Internet taxes too.

