On Wed, 31 Jan 2001 12:58:54 GMT, Oscar wrote:

>I don't know of any national bill, but different states are taking
>different angles. I got my tax booklet from Ohio a couple weeks ago
>and they had a page in the back about the "Use" tax. Says it's already
>law, and I'm required to report to the state everything I bought mail
>order and over the net in the last year and pay FULL (5.75%) sales tax
>on it. It kinda pissed me off because I hadn't heard anything about it
>up to that point, it was just there, and it wasn't a big announcement
>or anything, it just said do it. I asked several other Ohio people
>about it and no one's heard of it or kept the records to report it.
>Major kick in the butt if you ask me. I probably spent $1500-$2000 in
>internet and mail order stuff for a whole year. Said all businesses
>anywhere in the US are required to collect OH sales tax now and report
>it to the state. Damn greedy bastards. And to really torque my
>lugnuts, I get a postcard from the state reminding me that I got a $200
>refund last year and that money is taxable this year.

Ain't it gran'...?! ;-)
NYS has had this in place for years.
As a tax-collecting business, I get the
NYS Sales Tax Newsletter (wow!!! ;-), and I
had a good, if bitter, laugh over an article
that enthused over the fact that I could now,
if I bought anything out of state, send off
for the proper forms to declare the purchase
and tax, and send it in with the payment
according to state law... Gosh! I bet the
NYS tax bureau was immediately inundated
with requests for this form! ;-) And I bet
the increased tax revenues resulting from
this absurdity were nil... The point is:
NEVER enact a law that will be, as a
matter of course, broken - it just serves
to degrade the legal system (or provide
"gotchas" for selective enforcement, which
also degrades the legal system...).
I think the best course is to do what
'most everyone else will do: ignore it.
I have no problem collecting and paying
"legitimate" (the irony was intended...;-)
sales taxes, but this is silly, short a
national sales tax. 'Course with our "new,
improved" Supreme Court (that claims to
be strict-constructionist, but which does not
fear to appoint a candidate as president out
of hand, uphold obviously unconstitutional
RICO seisure laws, declare the tomato a
vegetable, etc.), it will be easy to get
a ruling again, in the name of convenience
(if not constitutionality...), that it is
OK for Ohio to collect other state's
sales taxes... No problem! ;-) And nary a
word about "states' rights" will be uttered
in the process from those right-wingers,
either (whose actions define the word
"hypocracy" these days...! ;-).
(Warning - not the end of this rant...! ;-)