Posted 3:22 PM by Douglas
COMMENT---- OOOPS...Time for me to eat about half a crow.

In a previous comment indicating Gov Wild Bill could not resist making a mediocre story less mediocre, I indicated that
Dell Computers did charge sales tax on computer sales to SD. Well, not quite correct. Maybe even less than half correct.
Their FAQ section indicates they do charge sales tax in several states, but SD is not one of them....except for that part
of a "computer sale" that includes an "at site service contract". Dell does charge sales tax on that part of the sale. But,
instead of paying around $100 sales tax on a computer sale, a buyer from SD might only pay 4% or 6% Sales Tax on
a $50 or $100 service contract. ..something between $2 and $6 perhaps. Dell does state that buyers from most states
would be subject to use taxes, but that they would not collect those..it was an obligation of the buyer.

So, on that one Wild Bill mostly escapes. But, this also indicates the complexity of any idea of applying state sales
tax via a consortiom of some variety. Huge invasive databases or sellers and buyers and sales would be required. Databases
which would require weekly or monthly updates to correct addresses and change city sales tax rates, etc.

A federal tax on remote sales of all kinds would eliminate the complexity. Refund it to states on the basis of population
and the point of sale and the buyer and seller's address are not required. They would not determine how much the
state or any other state got. Only the amount collected by the feds for the states and the established rate. It should
apply to stocks and bonds and many other things as well. It should also require that the legal fraud of "use" taxes be
eliminated as another means to collect sales taxes which would be unconsitutional violations of the "commerce clause".

States attempting to tax internet sales made across borders are not "loosing" tax because those sales can not generally
be charged, but they are attempting to extend a sales tax to a sale they have no right to tax. Border taxes were one
reason the Articles of Confederation were unsatisfactory. ----------- Doug Wiken