[mellie]

Earlier today the House accepted the Senate's amendments and it goes to Governor. Merchants should retain counsel to determine the impact on their business. The only qualified counsel will be a sales and use tax attorney or a qualified accountant.
The bill for Colorado Internet sales tax is very different from other states.

[Eathan]

Originally Posted by mellie

The only qualified counsel will be a sales and use tax attorney

I'm not even sure we have those in Oregon...

I watched some of the Colorado legislative debate/discussion and I have to say I'm more than a little ticked off. I may be off point here, only going by the discussion I saw, but this whole thing strikes me as an attack on online retailers.

If I understand correctly, merchants can't be asked to collect tax on Internet sales for other states, and Colorado has no intention of trying to collect from citizens who owe the tax, so what's the point beyond the fees and penalties they'll apply to those of us who sell to people in Colorado who can't find our products locally? None that I can see.

[simcat]

Towards the end of this, I'm not sure even the proponents of this bill know exactly what it does. not that I do either.

an attack on online retailers.

Do they realize online commerce is a 2 way street?
There is money flowing out of colorado (untaxed) hurting colorado tax revenue, B&M stores etc.

There is also money flowing IN to colorado based online retailers (untaxed) hurting B&M stores, tax revenue in other states. Helping add to income tax rev. and jobs in colorado. Maybe those other 46 states or so should crack down on colorado?

[isellstuff]

Originally Posted by Eathan

...this whole thing strikes me as an attack on online retailers

I've mentioned this before in another thread, but the source of the Amazon Tax is the American BookSeller's Association. They are lobbying state governments and pushing for the Amazon tax. If you were to follow the money trail, you would find that the big brick and mortar retail chains are behind this initiative, which is kindof funny, given how it is spun as a e-fairness tax to save mom-and-pop bookstores.

The Amazon tax is really more about leveling the Internet playing field for the likes of Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Target, etc... I guess it is worth pointing out that Mom-And-Pop's are still going to be pushed out of business by the big brick and mortar's, regardless of the Amazon tax.

As I get older, (and work in sales & marketing longer) it becomes easier to see how easily everyone can be manipulated. It is very disappointing on so many levels.

Some reading on the ABA e-fairness lobbying effort, note the links to personalized form letters for Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

http://bookweb.org/advocacy/salestax

[isellstuff]

I should note that one of my assumptions in the above statement is that is is easier, cheaper, and more pleasurable to purchase media items online when the urge hits you. Over the long term, brick and mortar media retailers are doomed... Music CD retailers, newspapers and magazines, DVD rental, and bookstores. All pretty much screwed no matter what they do....

Some reading on Disruptive Technology for anyone with time to kill:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology

Government regulation is not an appropriate response to disruptive technology, it would be interesting to have an Economist speak about the adverse affects of such actions..

[nsusa]

The local bookstores never have the same selection as an online retailer. I can also not compare reviews as easy when being at my local bookstore. Unless those stores adapt, they will never see my credit card anyway.

It gets even worse with the younger generations who grow up with Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace and less book reading experience along the way. As I said - the local stores have to adapt and they better do it fast ...

For the political stuff - I am disgusted by what happened here in Colorado. I am disgusted with how little the politicians really care about the state and that they only follow a certain agenda. Keep in mind this bill was part of a package of 12 tax bills. Our state is going to hurt by these bills and I really hope the REPS will beat the DEMS in a landslide victory just because ... (but of course that comes with different problems then ... ha ha).