Hey Tom Horner: HANDS OFF our Minnesota Sales Tax!
or
Minnesota Miracle Redux - Tax-free Online Commerce - A Win-Win for young and old together.
I oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax (SST),Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), any Sales or Use Tax code upgrading, and all such streamline efforts and attention to government revenue streams that is supported by Democratic revenue stream hunters(Independent gubernatorial candidate Tom Horner, local pundit Andy Driscoll), government tax professionals, democratic social engineers ( the SSUTA governing board), and the National Retail Federation because much of the streamlining efforts violate the spirit if not the letter of the 1998 federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, which currently protects online commerce by forbidding all government from imposing multiple discriminatory taxes on online commerce.
A Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act would clarify what online commerce is and isn't.
Under a Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act, all e-commerce such as eBay selling and buying, is online commerce, qualifying for a sales and Use tax exemption for the Minnesota online buyer and seller.
A Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act will secure an optimistic outlook and competitive edge for all Minnesotans to enjoy.
Our elderly can stay here and the grown children can be here with them, because the children can earn a livelihood in the greatest state in the nation – Minnesota.
It a Win Win situation which costs nothing.
Wait a minute Jamie - aren't we creating 2 Americas - those who buy and sell online tax-free and those who can't afford to and pay Minnesota tax?
Yes - and that's the dynamic that has existed since 1998. What I propose is we recognize the prosperity and hope this generates for the lower and middle class through financial and computer literacy and harness the dynamic for the benefit of Minnesota in the Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act - a national first.
There is no ambiguity as to whether Internet Sweepstakes operations will qualify. Under a Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act no online gambling operations will be permitted.
The federal Internet Tax Freedom Act expires in 2014 and until then online commerce can't be taxed. There is enough ambiguity as to whether we are taxing items including items involved in online commerce, in the streamlining efforts of Lenczewski after 1998 (when the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act first took effect) to call for a halt to her work.
California's very poor online sales tax freedom act:
http://www.techlawjournal.com/internet/80824citfa.htm
There is a big difference between the genuine federal Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits multiple and discriminatory tax on online commerce and internet access,
and the limited narrow California bill:
This bill would enact the "California Internet Tax Freedom Act" to prohibit, with specified exceptions, the imposition, assessment, or attempt to collect any of the following: a tax on Internet access, Online Computer Services, or the use of Internet access or any Online Computer Services; a bit or bandwidth tax; or any discriminatory tax on Online Computer Services or Internet access. The bill would make specified legislative findings and declarations in connection with that prohibition.
Ann Lenczewski's redefinition of telecommunication service to potentially include online commerce
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/?id=154&doctype=Chapter&type=0&year=2008
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=297A.669&year=2010&keyword_type=all&keyword=Telecommunications+services
Helpful starter article:
http://www.jongingerich.com/?p=23
national retail federation
http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=1389
On July 1, 2010, Representative Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., introduced H.R. 5660, the “Main Street Fairness Act,” 24 states ... conformance with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement
Is your state affected?
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/index.php?page=state-info
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/index.php?page=minnesota
The state of Minnesota became a full member of Streamlined Sales Tax on October 1st, 2005
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/State%20Compliance/Minnesota/2010/Minnesota%20Taxability%20Matrix%202010.pdf
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/State%20Compliance/Minnesota/2010/Minnesosta%20Letter.pdf
Daniel Salomone, MN commissioner of Revenue petition to join
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/State%20Compliance/Minnesota/MN%20Petition.pdf
http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/index.php?page=state-info
update
The Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act applies to both residents and businesses!
update #2
We
Enact a single resolution or rule in the Revenue Department that says no seller shall collect online sales tax from a buyer and that all online sales are subject to Use tax to be paid by buyer only as a Use tax.
Enact a single resolution or rule that raises the Use tax exemption from $770 to $250,000.
Identify in MN code 297A the individual online shopper as an entity-exemption up to $250,000.
Exempt (up to $250,000) all Minnesota consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-business transactions involving the patented shopping cart technology.
All transactions involving shopping cart technology are subject to Use tax only, not Sales tax.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In your opening paragraph, you point out your opposition to an awful lot of organizations because their "streamlining efforts violate the spirit if not the letter of the 1998 federal Internet Tax Freedom Act."
ReplyDeleteThis is a common misconception of the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
Please take a moment to review the 1998 ITFA, in particular § 1104 (2). It describes that no new and discriminatory tax shall be placed on electronic commerce that would not otherwise be due on similar transactions to purchase any property, goods, services, or information through other means.
Sales and use taxes were adopted by the state of Minnesota in 1967 – and since then sale tax has been due on all transactions in the state, unless the purchaser has a valid entity exemption, or the item itself is subject to an exemption.
Exemptions are not available based upon the forum of a particular transaction – as such a definition would be discriminatory and would amount to government favoritism over a particular marketplace.
The ITFA in no way creates any forum-specific exemption for e-commerce. Is this what you are suggesting will be the goal of your “Minnesota Internet Tax Freedom Act?” I would expect a few retail malls might also appreciate such favoritism. Of course, as long as you are handing out forum-specific tax exemptions, I would expect that a few independent retailers may also appreciate such treatment.
The State of Minnesota is projecting a $4 billion shortfall this year (FY 2011). Last year, Minnesota failed to collect at least $143 million. No matter how aggressively MN continues to cut spending, it will be very difficult to reduce the budget by 25%. The Main Street Fairness Act (HR 5660) will grant Minnesota the right to compel out of state merchants collect and remit local sales taxes.
With the budget crisis being endured by governments across the country, the best ideas will control spending and income in a measured and prudent manner. It is a matter if basic responsibility that Minnesota should collect the tax that is already due, before forcing citizens to endure escalating taxes or reduced services. The Main Street Fairness Act, and the efforts of the 44 states (including Minnesota) in the Streamlined effort over the last 10 years should not be so quickly dismissed as they do not represent a new tax, nor a discriminatory tax on the internet – simply a mechanism to allow states to collect sales taxes which are already due.
R. David L. Campbell
Chief Executive Officer
The Federal Tax Authority (FedTax.net)
In the SSTGB effort to standardize categories - http://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/uploads/downloads/State%20Compliance/Minnesota/2010/Minnesota%20Certificate%20of%20Compliance%202010.pdf - great effort is made to exclude specific technologies but no effort is made to exclude or include the shopping cart and online auction technologies most commonly used for e-commerce. We need to address these technologies. Show me where in the SSTGB documents you address these technologies. Eventually organizations like fedtax.net would like to see shopping-cart technology, not currently taxed, dumped into a taxable category such as "telecommunications services". This is dead wrong. It is important we preserve the current tax-free state of this body of technology or the marketplace forum, whatever is current law (and with all due respect I'm not sure you are correct in saying no marketplace-forum-based exclusions exist in tax codes) for future generations. Once taxed, the technology or forum will never again be exempted because the argument that expected revenue is lost will be used.
ReplyDeleteI think you have missed the point of my post.
ReplyDeleteOnline transactions are not currently exempted from sales tax obligations, so there is no "current tax-free state of this...forum" to preserve.
In Minnesota, all standard prewritten software is taxable, while custom non-prewritten software is not taxable.
However, whether shopping-cart software is taxable (or not) has nothing to do with whether transactions which occur using such software is taxable.
FedTax.net does not seek to have some items taxed and some items not taxed - nor are we trying to "dump" things into taxable categories. We simply enable merchants throughout the United States to easily collect and remit accurate local sales tax for any jurisdiction in the country - for free.