Saturday, April 27, 2013

Web Giants Amazon And eBay Battle Over Internet Sales Tax - The ...

Internet Sales TaxIf you own a small online business, then you better look out because the Internet sales tax could soon be reality. There is an email circulating for all online business owners to write to Congress. The following is what is being requested of small business owners:

Congress is considering online sales tax legislation that is wrongheaded and unfair, and I am writing to ask for your help in telling Congress ?No!? to new sales taxes and burdens for small businesses.

Whether you?re a consumer who loves the incredible selection and value that small businesses provide online, or a small-business seller who relies on the Internet for your livelihood, this legislation has potential to affect you in a negative way. For consumers, it means more money out of your pocket when you shop online from your favorite seller or small business shop owner. For small business Internet sellers, you would be required to collect sales taxes nationwide from the more than 9,600 tax jurisdictions across the U.S. You also would face the prospect of being audited by out-of-state tax collectors. That?s just wrong, and an unnecessary burden on you.

Big national retailers are aggressively lobbying Congress to pass online sales tax legislation to ?level the playing field? with Amazon. And, as they compete with big retail, Amazon is advocating for this legislation too, while at the same time they are seeking local tax exemptions across the country to build warehouses. This is a ?big retail battle? in which small businesses and consumers have a lot to lose. But eBay is fighting, as we have for more than 15 years, to protect small online businesses and sellers and ensure healthy competition, value, and selection that benefit consumers online.

The solution is simple: if Congress passes online sales tax legislation, we believe small businesses with less than 50 employees or less than $10 million in annual out-of-state sales should be exempt from the burden of collecting sales taxes nationwide. To put that in perspective, Amazon does more than $10 million in sales every 90 minutes. So we believe this is a reasonable exemption to protect small online businesses. That?s what we?re fighting for, and what big companies such as Amazon are fighting against.

I hope you agree that imposing unnecessary tax burdens on small online businesses is a bad idea. Join us in letting your Members of Congress know they should protect small online businesses, not potentially put them out of business. Click here to make your voice heard. Together, I believe our voices can make a difference.

It is amazing how this will not only hurt the small business person, but also the consumer. Small businesses will have to hire an accountant just to take care of all the tax issues. You might be inclined to say that is not a bad idea, but it will raise the cost of the items being sold just to cover the cost of the accountant.

Consumers are already paying shipping charges for items being purchased. What will follow will be a surcharge for those items. Many stand alone business, or ?brick and mortar? store fronts, already pay for the items being taxed through the store. Some of the stores use outlets like eBay and Amazon to liquidate their stock in order to make room for more in case the foot traffic does not purchase the stock. Companies are already required to report sales tax twice a year to begin. The added taxes will further cripple the economy. It is another attempt to bring the United States economy to its knees.

Amazon is the main voice vying to be heard. Amazon now says it?s perfectly acceptable to levy sales tax on Internet companies. eBay has always and still says ? no way ? and it?s trying to drum up the kind of online support that squashed the major privacy bill SOPA last year. Amazon is hoping to get the leaders in the retail business to back them and give this a huge push. Once more the ?big dogs? are trying to chase the ?little dogs? away.

Another concern comes from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association they fear it could open the door to a state-level financial transaction tax because states have the authority to select which goods to tax.

Bill Hughes, the senior Vice President of government affairs for RILA, was quoted as saying the trade group went local to persuade on-the-fence senators to support the legislation. District-based retailers were brought to speak with their local representatives:

I would argue what really made the difference is that it?s not just the big guy coming in. We have a working coalition of thousands and thousands of small businesses who are mom-and-pop operations.

In other words, all of the small business owners need to ban to together and write to Congress. There is power in numbers from infinty and beyond.

Source: http://www.thebrennerbrief.com/2013/04/27/web-giants-amazon-and-ebay-battle-over-internet-sales-tax/

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