The other day I ordered some books from Amazon.Com — mainly because the local stores take forever to order books from some small publishers through their distributors, while Amazon.Com usually ships them out to me in less than 48 hours.
For the most part, I find the discount Amazon offers is usually offset by the shipping and handling charge so mainly I just get the books I want faster. But that could change since Michigan is one of several states trying to find ways to collect sales tax on such purchases.
According to this PostNet story, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin, are trying to voluntarily persuade online merchants to add a sales tax to the credit cards of consumers from those states.
The new software would be given to Internet retailers who ask the state for it. The software calculates the tax due and charges consumers’ credit cards when they make an online purchase. The retailer turns the tax over to the vendor, who would remit it to the proper state.
Ugh. The first time I see a sales text on my Amazon order is the first time I switch to an alternative retailer that doesn’t go around asking state governments how best it can raise the cost to consumers of buying books.
And Michigan has a relatively liberal sales tax policy. I was flabbergasted when I visited Illinois to be charged a sales tax on grocery items I bought there. Are Illinois legislators really that insane? Could there be anything more stupid than a tax on food?
I hope most Internet retailers will just say not to becoming tax agents for states.