Sales tax

[a1gutterman]

..............Thank you shopsmith for collecting the taxes and saving me from being visited by the tax police. Jim

Me too, Jim!
Thank you Shopsmith for collecting the taxes and saving me from being visited by the tax police.

This reminds me of an old WKRP episode where Johnny Fever was afraid of the Phone Police.

[a1gutterman]

................ if I purchase a product from an out of state vendor, I have created a presense for that vendor in my state. Once that occurs they or I owe sales tax............

(In response to the red above)This would be true if that vender was in your state at the time of sale, but not if you were out of your state at the time of sale. (In response to the blue above)In Washington, the purchaser would owe the tax either way; sales tax, if the vender had an in-state presence; use tax, if the vender did not have a presence.

[Ed in Tampa]

Guys! Guys! come on we are starting to sound like a bunch of hack lawyers.

Fact most mail order/internet businesses do not charge or collect sales tax if they are sending the merchandise out of the state they are physically located in or in the case of Washington, unless they are shipping to Washington. There evidently are other states that must have laws similar to Washington since I have seen disclaimers on some mail order/internet sellers ads saying they must charge and collect sales tax for any orders going to "X" state.

Fact years ago Shopsmith had a presence in nearly every state through Demo, TA, and stores.

Fact when I asked why Shopsmith was charging me sales tax it was explained to me they are required to do so since they have direct sales in the form of Demo's, TA's and stores in the state.

Fact Shopsmith no longer has that presence in Florida.

Fact other mail order/internet sellers do not charge or collect Florida sales tax on items I order.

Fact Florida legistature is aware there is a real potential for money in collecting such tax and are presently looking into what they can do and how to do it.

Fact if Shopsmith didn't collect sales tax I would realize a 7% savings on every item I buy from them. I think that would influence me to buy more.

Question why does Shopsmith contary to most other mail order/internet sellers still charge and collect sales tax.

Let us not go into a great law debate. If other big name mail order/internet sellers don't charge or collect sales tax then I wonder why Shopsmith must.

[a1gutterman]

................ If other big name mail order/internet sellers don't charge or collect sales tax then I wonder why Shopsmith must.

Hi Ed,
They only "must" if they have a presence in Florida. Maybe, just maybe, they are still doing demo's that you are not aware of, or maybe, you can still walk in to Lowe's and order a part, even though Lowe's has discontinued stocking SS things. Either of those situations would warrant the continued charging of sales tax on mail orders (including internet orders).

The thing that you could do is research what exactly constitutes a "presence" in Florida. Then, armed with this information, you could contact SS, asking them exactly which of those conditions they fit into. If you can satisfy SS that they no longer fit into any of those conditions, maybe they will relent. The key is that you must do the leg work; you can not expect any one else to do it for you.

While you are doing that research, you might also research just what merchandise you can buy that you do not legally have to pay sales tax on, whether or not it is collected from you through a vender.

Good searching.

[friscomike]

Howdy,

I can't help but chime in on Sales Tax. I shop a lot at Amazon.com, joined Amazon Prime a few years ago...so I pay no sales tax and shipping is free. That is a huge incentive to shop there. When you add up the tax and shipping costs, it makes prices a lot cheaper. If Amazon charged for shipping and sales tax, I would not shop there. Something to consider at Shopsmith.

If a company as large and successful as Amazon.com doesn't charge sales tax in most states, I don't understand why Shopsmith does. I am supporting Shopsmith with my purchases of items that I could get at Amazon far cheaper for equal or better quality. As long as my fixed income doesn't get reduced, I'll continue to support Shopsmith...but it is an irritant.

Best Regards,
mike

[dps1890]

IAM WITH YOU ED AND I WAS TAXED FOR THE TRAVELING ACADEMY, IT WAS NOT A PRODUCT IT WAS JUST LABOR AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN CHARGED FOR TAX ON LABOR.

[paulmcohen]

I thought that congress said that companies doing business over the Internet did not need to collect sales tax unless they have a physical store in the state. I believe Amazon only collects sales tax in Washington.

[dusty]

Some of us pay sales tax and some of us don't. Some of us who don't, probably should. Maybe some of us who do, don't have to, but we do.

Enough said. I think we have beat this horse to death.

[cincinnati]

Here is a post on Sawmill Creek on the exact subject. Post number 48 is from the President of Grizzly tools and explains it well.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=80594

Looks like the rules are starting to be enforced.

[dusty]

Here is a post on Sawmill Creek on the exact subject. Post number 48 is from the President of Grizzly tools and explains it well.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=80594

Looks like the rules are starting to be enforced.

It may save some of you some time to know that the President of Grizzly is Shiraz Balolia.

The post in reference is post #3, on tier #3.

I guess the horse isn't dead yet.