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Tech’ news in brief: The Last Tax-Free Christmas Online?
Tuesday, 5 December 2006 — by Wayne Smallman
Is buying on-line in the US to become a taxing ordeal? Well, if the Democrats get their way, maybe:
“There can be a guilty little pleasure in buying that $350 iPod or $1,200 laptop online: avoiding the sales tax you’d have to pay at a local store.
Technically, online purchasers owe sales tax to their home states and sometimes their cities or towns at combined rates averaging nearly 7.5%.
…
Still, as the Supreme Court itself noted, there’s nothing to stop Congress from authorizing states to require collection by out-of-state sellers. Nothing in the Constitution, that is. Politics are another matter.
…
Still, you needn’t rush to buy online. This is hardly a done deal.”
While on the one hand you could look at this from the point of view of this being the final sign that the fun’s over for the web.
However, you could also take look at this from the point of view that this is the first sign that the web has matured enough for serious legislative measures to be made to properly tax the sale of goods over the web…
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