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

mischievous said:
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.
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That sounds like a really good idea.
 
Martini Enfield said:
As it is, we've got a national GST, which really does simplify things. I'd suggest the US look into it, but we all know that's never going to happen.
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I'm not sure if that last line was intended as snark or not. The U.S. formed as a much more loosely aligned federation of states than it's become (I think the big turning point was the Civil War); but just because we have much more unity now than we did 230 years ago doesn't mean that there aren't still a bunch of differences in the way different states operate, nor does it mean that we should completely wipe out that individuality and replace it all with federal control.
 
mhendo said:
Yeah, five whole states.
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And those five get the job done. Let's see how they do it before we decide that states MUST tax out of state purchases.

mhendo said:
I'm not especially interested in having a big debate over whether sales/use taxes are the best way to raise government revenue. But the fact is that they exist in the vast majority of US states, and when they are not collected on purchases from outside the state, it puts in-state retailers at a competitive disadvantage.
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Here we have a relatively new technology which has revolutionized the way people shop. Why not take a step back and see if there is a new way to best capitalize on this instead of trudging back to the pony express ways of taxing commerce so states can keep spending the way they like?

mhendo said:
Not only that, but the law in most (all?) of those states requires that such taxes be paid on out-of-state purchases, so it's not unreasonable for states to seek a mechanism to ensure this happens. Not really very complicated, is it?
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It seems extra-jurisdictional to me. The constitution leaves the regulation of interstate commerce to the federal government. For all of the ridiculous things that the feds have used the interstate commerce nexus to allow, here we have an obvious situation. If I sit at my computer in Florida and buy a product that sits in California, that is certainly, by definition, interstate commerce, and IMHO is something that is beyond the power of any state to interfere with.
 
mhendo said:
And if he had posted his thread in GQ, something like, "Hey, i got this letter from the California State Government about use tax, which is something i had never heard of. What is it?", i would have responded with the appropriate tone.

But he marched into the Pit, ranting and raving about something that has been law for decades, and calling California "the nuttiest fucking state," despite the fact that this tax is in no way unusual among US states.

And because it's the Pit, i decided to point out what an ignoramus he is. Which would put him in perfect company with a fucking stupid dickwad like you.

You're welcome.
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Well, in essence, this really was a serious question about something I had not heard about. For all I know me accountant has been paying this. I'm going to ask him tomorrow. But, yes, I did ask the question in the Pit, and yes, I did rant a little. Partially because I was surprised by it and partially because I'm sick and tired of paying as much tax as I do. So, I do not begrudge you spewing some shit my way. Especially since you offered some insight in the process.

I guess the one thing I don't get is why, after I posted a question and openly admitted I knew NOTHING about this (i.e. that my ignorance on this topic was, on a scale of 1 - 10, an 110, why you felt the need to point to the very ignorance I announced with fireworks in the OP.

Like I said, I don't mind your insulting me in the pit, it just seem odd that you would think that the thing I already admitted to would be so cutting.

::shrug::
 
Glory said:
Ha, I moved from Seattle to San Diego in 2008 - hello, CA state income tax! I am making about the same salary, with less take home pay AND last year, I owed the state when I did my taxes. Zoinks!
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The price you pay for the amazing schools and efficient government.
 
Shot From Guns said:
Another person chiming in, as I'm sure you've already been told this repeatedly, to say you're a fucking 'tard. AFAIK most or all states work this way; they just count on you to self-report.

Seriously, my mom taught me this the first time I bought something out of a catalog like twenty years ago.
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Well, it's your mom's fault then, as she never taught me that. She did teach me how much a woman could love slobbering over cock and slapping her face with it and teabagging, but she never said a single thing having to do with online purchases. Honest. Just ask her.
 
jtgain said:
And those five get the job done. Let's see how they do it before we decide that states MUST tax out of state purchases.
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Let's do!

Alaska = oil royalties galore plus being the 3rd highest state for federal funds received per dollar of federal tax paid (1.84 received per 1.00 submitted to federal coffers)

Delaware = Franchise taxes on businesses (most fortune 500 companies are HQed there) accounts for 1/5 of state revenue. They also have like 8 people in the entire state.

Montana = Ranked #11 in federal dollars received per dollar given. 7% income tax for every dollar above 17000 or so. Moderate, but still appreciable, Oil & Gas revenues.

New Hampshire = Let's pretend they have no sales tax, even though there's 9% tax on food. 1.5% transfer tax on real estate. 4th highest rate of property tax by % value in the US.

Oregon = the only one that I can't really find any offsetting, obvious reason for being able to afford no sales tax.


this is an incomplete analysis, but as you can see, the states that survive with no state income tax are taxing their citizens heavily in other areas, are extremely small in population (4 of the 5 are in the bottom 20th percentile in terms of population) so there isn't a large expenditure-side pressure, or have large sources of natural resource revenue. there's one true outlier in Oregon.

also, states don't impose use tax because they love tax grabs - their domestic businesses are at serious competitive disadvantages if use tax doesn't exist. it's not just a revenue thing, it's a fostering in-state business thing. how do you think Mom & Pop's Electronics MegaStore, Inc. of Methuen, MA likes it when all of his customers can drive 2 minutes into NH and get a 6.25% discount on goods in perpetuity?
 
While there would certainly be benefits to complete federal control, I kind of like the way things are set up now. It's like having fifty different test tubes in which to conduct civics experiments.
 
Rumor_Watkins said:
Let's do!

Alaska = oil royalties galore plus being the 3rd highest state for federal funds received per dollar of federal tax paid (1.84 received per 1.00 submitted to federal coffers)
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We do have sales tax (though I don't have a clue what part of that, if any, goes to roads). There just isn't one in Anchorage, though most of our other major towns do have sales tax. I don't have a clue if we have a use tax for online purchases though. I would guess probably not since we don't have any suppliers instate for a ton of things (if I understood correctly, that was one of the things that allowed states to tax online purchases?).

Did you mean federal funds for roads, or overall? Though I'm not surprised, any work up here costs far more to actually do, thanks to our shipping costs among other things.
 
Martini Enfield said:
The thing I'm trying to work out is why you're required to pay a (local) sales tax on something purchased in another state, and upon which you have (presumably) already paid a sales tax?
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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.
 
Starving Artist said:
Yeah, but you're just as big (and eager) an asshole as mhendo. So you can fucko off too.
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Coming from you, Starvey, that's a glowing endorsement.

magellan01 said:
Well, it's your mom's fault then, as she never taught me that. She did teach me how much a woman could love slobbering over cock and slapping her face with it and teabagging, but she never said a single thing having to do with online purchases. Honest. Just ask her.
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You didn't pay for those lessons, that's why. It was right there in the course catalog. But it's all part of the confidentiality clause: just like she wasn't going to ask why you wanted to know what to do when another man dips his balls in your mouth, she also wasn't going to ask why you didn't care to find out about how to deal with sales tax on purchases from catalogs and online stores.
 
magellan01 said:
Well, in essence, this really was a serious question about something I had not heard about. For all I know me accountant has been paying this. I'm going to ask him tomorrow. But, yes, I did ask the question in the Pit, and yes, I did rant a little. Partially because I was surprised by it and partially because I'm sick and tired of paying as much tax as I do. So, I do not begrudge you spewing some shit my way. Especially since you offered some insight in the process.
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I almost guarantee your accountant is making you pay jack shit. When I worked as a tax preparer in CA it wasn't something they even suggested we ask, and accountants I know don't ask. Besides, how would he know how much you should've paid at Amazon without asking. I am surprised in this thread that people actually report it, just as I am by your OP and the letter.
 
CanvasShoes said:
I would guess probably not since we don't have any suppliers instate for a ton of things (if I understood correctly, that was one of the things that allowed states to tax online purchases?).
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The states can enforce a use tax whether or not you have local suppliers. They just usually don't if there isn't a local supplier.
 
Shot From Guns said:
You didn't pay for those lessons, that's why.
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Well, all I had was a dollar, and she didn't have any change. So yes, I still owe her that quarter.

And the lessons were for internet use tax, like you she said she taught you.Now, if she also taught you how to slobber over cock and whack it across your face, I misunderstood your earlier post. My apologies if I did.
 
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