White House: Internet Sales Tax ‘Will Level The Playing Field’

[Purplehazed]

120. Not sure what you mean by market forces.

Internet sales are driven because of market forces.

The debate over collecting the taxes is revolving around the "Amazon Model" where items sold online are the same ones available locally. It leaves out the large number of sellers who sell items that are not normally available locally. The internet is certainly an advantage to mom and pops who can sell their Alpaca wool to a nation wide market rather than the few thousand people in their local community.

The internet allows very "non corporate" businesses to flourish in ways that were not possible 20 years ago. States would actually be getting a windfall, collecting taxes on transactions that would have never happened if it were not for the internet.

In a different direction; in states with sales taxes, there is a responsibility for the seller to collect sales taxes and there is also a responsibility for the buyer to pay sales taxes. Technically, if I buy an item out of state at a lower tax rate, I am obligated to pay the difference to my state. I don't think many people do, except for automobiles where the tax will be collected when you register it. If I buy a car in New Hampshire, I have to pay 5% to Maine in order to register it. I recall that several years ago, there was a native american tribe that was selling cigarettes online very inexpensively because they were not charging taxes. The Massachusetts revenue people forced the tribe to turn over the list of customers that resided in MA and then took legal action against the residents to collect taxes and penalties. I would hate to see that happen with general internet sales.