Here's and Idea! Reagarding California Internet Tax...

4 replies
Ok, so California is now going to tax the internet...

Amazon is pulling out along with others such as Overstock.

Now, what if someone were to act as a buyers proxy? Say in a state that does not tax the internet someone were to buy the product from Amazon (or whoever) and then ship that item to the buyer, or perhaps even get Amazon to ship as per usual, but this company would be purchasing the item from Amazon - and just shipping it elsewhere like we all do for Christmas for example?

Let me know your thoughts on this as a possible business model. It would earn pennies per order, but over the millions of orders could be a viable conduit. The tax laws only apply to companies with a physical presence in the state of question, while the state laws have no jurisdiction over the federal postal service.

-DTM
#california #idea #internet #reagarding #tax
  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    Would an ad constitute having a physical presence in the state? I wouldn't think so. And, if that's right, instead of having affiliates, why not have variable PPC advertising?

    Then, they don't have affiliates promoting their products. Instead, they are advertising on various websites.

    And the payout on the ad varies based on the product, similar to AdSense.
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    • Profile picture of the author David McKee
      Works for me. When these idiots finally "get" the fact that taxes are self-defeating because destroy the engine of production, then perhaps we can get back to "just business" instead of wasting so much time trying to get around all of the road-blocks and restrictions on our freedoms.

      -DTM
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      • Profile picture of the author Peter Soos
        As a quick note here, remember, this isn't about who ships the product to whomever. This is about a state that hopes to collect a tax from a company by establishing that the company has a physical presence in the state. That makes the company liable for collecting taxes for the state. A real PIA. If that company sends out affiliate commission checks to anyone in the state, that establishes a physical presence. Just adding to it . (I live in Ca.) California has gone so far as to tax you even if you start an LLC in another state, make money there. Because YOU maintain a physical presence in the state, you owe Ca the differance in state income tax on earnings.
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  • Profile picture of the author V Michael Santoro
    Good points. What I read is that Amazon and other large online retailers are
    already terminating their affiliates in California. If I read it correctly, that means that CA Affiliate marketers who built affiliate sites selling Amazon products are no longer able to sell. Unless they find products through other affiliate networks and update their sites, they are out of business. Imagine having numerous sites built around Amazon.

    As they say taxation with representation sucks too!

    The article also indicated that this was going to the supreme court but that could take years and will probably be a political football.

    Many CA residents say in news interviews that government is a necessary evil. Maybe they should rethink that now and make business the necessary evil and government the unnecessary evil!

    My condolences to our CA Internet marketers as this has to be painful.

    Thanks,
    Vito
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