I owe a California Use Tax? WTF?!!!

[Starving Artist]

If they're curious (which i kind of doubt) they are welcome to ask. If they're not raging, dishonest assholes i might favor them with an answer. You, on the other hand, can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.

Well! That's certainly not very sporting of you I must say!

One can only wonder about your poor students.

Student: [raises hand] Uh, Mr. mhendo, may I ask a question?

mhendo: Fuck no! There's plenty of info out there already. You should know the answer by now. Dumbass!

Student: Oh, okay. Nevermind, I guess.

mhendo: [thinks to self] I can't believe people are so fucking stupid! :smack:

SA:

 

[magellan01]

I just received a letter telling me I'll have to pay a California Use Tax. I never heard of this. Evidently, I'll have to pay this Use Tax for any purchase I made out of state that did not charge me tax. So, if I bought a book from Amazon for $20, I owe (I think) $1.75.

I'm telling you, California is the nuttiest fucking state with all these taxes. I've been thinking of moving, and this just might push me to do it.

Does anyone know anything about this. Also, Am I going to suddenly have to pay this Use Tax on stuff I bought online five years ago? I did read that the penalty for any tax you do owe is an additional 10%. It seems like it's a way for the state to tax online purchases, even though the feds have so far chosen to allow those transactions to be tax-free (unless the seller has a store in your state).

 

[magellan01]

Apparently you're a retard, so let me spell the insult out:

You paid my mother to teach you how to gobble cock and suck on balls. You failed to hire her to also teach you the basics of how to deal with sales tax on purchases from out-of-state vendors.

No, that's not true. I know what I paid your mother to do (though I still owe her that quarter). But there's any easy way to straighten this out: ask your mother. Ask her if she was paid to suck my cock and balls, or was supposed to be paid to teach me about the use tax, but never got around to it because she was to infatuated with giving me that slurpie.

But you seem insistent that your mother taught you about both 1) the use tax and 2) how to do a good job of slobbering over cock and rubbing it on your face. I had given both you and your mother the benefit of the doubt and didn't think that you two would cross the familial-sex line. I find that hard to believe, as your mother seemed to be a nice woman, one who just love to have cock in her mouth and face. I'd be surprised if she would stoop to the depths you insinuate.

If you insist that she taught you how to slurp up the rocket, I'm going to have to call bullshit. But there's an easy way to determine that: in her supposed instructions to you and how to properly nuzzle up to and slobber over one's cock and balls, what song does she like to hum just before that cock erupts and spews over her face? If you can answer that, I will believe you about her. As much as it pains me.

 

[Martini Enfield]

Because States don't answer to other States. As has been explained before, you get a credit for the tax you paid in the other state. If you have. If you haven't, you'll owe the whole hog for your tax that you didn't have to pay by buying out of state.

I still find it interesting- I mean, if you live in Washington State and go and visit Canada for the day, are you expected to cough up the sales taxes on the stuff you brought in Canada, duty free concession allowances notwithstanding?

I really don't see why buying stuff in another state should be any different. You didn't buy it in your home state, so you shouldn't be paying "local" taxes on it.

 

[BrotherCadfael]

This is fairly standard for any state which imposes a sales tax. You are responsible for reporting and submitting any Cali taxes due on out of state purchases. Nobody actually does it, mind you, but that is pretty much the law in any sales-taxing state.

 

[magellan01]

The State of Massachusetts sued a tire retailer that had stores in NH and MA to collect MA sales tax on MA residents who crossed the border to buy tires in NH. They lost.

Very interesting. It certainly doesn't seem right to expect the out-of-state store to pay the tax. And as far as the resident, you either have to trust them, have a border check point, or be able to go into someone's home and check the serial number on their appliance with the one on the receipt. Seems to be almost impossible to enforce.

 

[Manduck]

IIRC, when I lived in New York, they basically had a "close enough" version of the use tax - each year, you could pay $30 tax on out-of-state purchases, or you could document your real liability. Naturally, most people just paid the $30, which I thought was entirely reasonable.

Wait, isn't that the rule from Monopoly?

 

[Shot From Guns]

You realize you lose points for trying way too hard, right, magellan01?

No, wait, sorry, you probably don't.

 

[JayRx1981]

Ummm, it's not just California that does this. Ohio requires* you to pay a use tax as well on items purchased from online retailers. There's an area on your Ohio Tax return form where you are supposed to report it.

*By requires, it is codified in the tax code that you are required to do this, but it is purely self-reported so my understanding is that most people don't do so.

 

[Doughbag]

I still find it interesting- I mean, if you live in Washington State and go and visit Canada for the day, are you expected to cough up the sales taxes on the stuff you brought in Canada, duty free concession allowances notwithstanding?

I really don't see why buying stuff in another state should be any different. You didn't buy it in your home state, so you shouldn't be paying "local" taxes on it.

Coming from Canada - You are actually importing goods, so technically you are required to pay an import tax. This happens to some people when they get off the plane (here in Ireland), after a shopping trip in New York, depending on the mood (I guess) of the custom officers.
As an EU citizen, purchasing online outside the EU, the parcel usually/sometimes gets stopped by custom. They contact me in writing and ask for an invoice for the incoming goods, which I then have to provide and I get taxed according to this invoice.
The tax is in Ireland 21%, meaning that I have to pay 21% Tax whether I paid any tax in the purchasing country or not.

 

[Gfactor]

Yeah, but you're just as big (and eager) an asshole as mhendo. So you can fucko off too.

Reminder:

The following expressions should not be directed at other posters.

* * * *
fuck you and variants, e.g., go fuck yourself, fuck off and die

Please avoid this collocation in the future. No warning issued.

Gfactor
Pit Moderator

 

[magellan01]

You realize you lose points for trying way too hard, right, magellan01?

No, wait, sorry, you probably don't.

Hahahahaha. Okay, I accept your surrender, you pathetic little pea brain. Next time, make sure you have ammo and know how to aim the gun.

 

[Starving Artist]

Reminder:



Please avoid this collocation in the future. No warning issued.

Gfactor
Pit Moderator

Noted, with my apologies Gfactor. I shall make every attempt to remember this and avoid using this or similar collocations (cool new word, thanks ) in the future.

 

[Chronos]

A lot of states have this now, though I've never heard of it actually being enforced (for starters, what do they know about what you've bought out of state?).

 

[Rumor_Watkins]

I still find it interesting- I mean, if you live in Washington State and go and visit Canada for the day, are you expected to cough up the sales taxes on the stuff you brought in Canada, duty free concession allowances notwithstanding?

I really don't see why buying stuff in another state should be any different. You didn't buy it in your home state, so you shouldn't be paying "local" taxes on it.

You do technically owe use tax on purchases made in Canada. This time around, you don't even get the offsetting credit. Duty-free has to do with Federal excise taxes and duties - has nothing to do with State taxation.

States have the right to tax whatever they want within their state (with certain exceptions for goods passing through their State in interstate commerce). The logical reason for the use tax has been repeatedly explained in this thread, and the reasoning for this tax is obvious, not ambiguous, and reasonable.

FWIW, I think you're being purposefully dense (in that Oceanic "golly gee, what you Americans do is *so* incomprehensible and non-sensical to me!" moralizing way that seems to characterize every comment that every Kiwi or Kangaroo that posts on this board makes in relation to America). If not, apologies.

 

[Rumor_Watkins]

As far as why people report it, there is an old saying in California "You can fuck with the IRS, but do not fuck with the franchise tax board. Those guys are evil."

Oh god, are you pushing this meme again?

 

[Steve MB]

A bunch of states have recently been trying to work out a way to collect more of the taxes owed on internet purchases, and supporters of the move include brick-and-mortar stores who argue, quite reasonably, that the ability of online retailers to sell without charging sales tax effectively undercuts local retailers and makes it harder for them to do business.

I don't buy the notion that this is at all "reasonable". Sorry, brick-and-mortar stores -- you use a bunch of local services that online retailers physically located in some other state don't, so it's perfectly fair that you specifically get to pay for them.

 

[V.bis and Baudhead]

California is far from the only state that has a use tax (basically the equivalent of a sales tax on purchases made out of state). Wikipedia reports that at least 22 states including California actually include an entry for it right on their income tax returns. It's been in effect in California since the 1930s. So technically, yes, you owe the tax on pretty much everything you've ever bought online, subject to any statute of limitations that may be in effect. Not that I am a lawyer, or anything, mind you.

The letter you received is most likely a scare tactic. The state really has no way of enforcing this tax right now, since it's pretty much impossible to audit every resident and every out of state business, and they therefore rely on self reporting (with some exceptions - if you make overseas purchases, for example, they do get the reported value from US Customs). I have no doubt they're sending out a mass mailing hoping to scare up a little revenue, particularly with the budget in the lousy state it's in. This situation might change if the state comes to an agreement with some of the larger retailers, like Amazon, to either collect the tax directly, or report the purchases. If *that* happens, it will likely be front page news.

 

[BrandonR]

If people really did pay use taxes then internet purchases would suddenly be a lot less attractive. I mean, a big part of the allure of online shopping is no sales tax (which the shipping costs tend to make up for).

 

[magellan01]

If people really did pay use taxes then internet purchases would suddenly be a lot less attractive. I mean, a big part of the allure of online shopping is no sales tax (which the shipping costs tend to make up for).

Yes. And would cause me to have to drive to Best Buy and Office Max and the mall more often.