Internet Taxation

At times of great discussions over whether the Internet sales should be taxed or not, the link below offers some arguments against online taxes.

i) the Internet is not tax-free shopping, online users already pay a myriad of telecommunication taxes.

ii) Internet tax sales only levels the playing field if a national sales tax is imposed.

iii) consumers are not willing to pay for Internet sales tax. If this happens, studies show that online users will shop elsewhere.

iv) tax is not avoided either buying online or at bricks-and-mortar stores since online retailers are required to have physical presence in the buyer's state in order to collect sales tax.

v) there is no evidence that cities and states have lost revenue by technology driven economic activity.

vi) cities, states, and countries do not desesperately need to tax online sales since they can have other forms of taxation: personal and corporte incomes.

vii) the Internet is not killing "Main Street" businesses because many customers get information online but buy offline.

Other arguments against online sales tax: i) Amazon threatens to pull out warehouses from states that charge taxes and cease business with affiliates ii) this is protected by the "Commerce Clause" (no state can impose a barrier on commerce between states) iii) will harm many small Internet start-up companies iv) online retailers prefer that one set of national rules be adopted rather than state-by-state laws.

www.nointernettax.org/default.asp?Page=Myths