[akagorilla]

Batter up. This is my fight. I have enough friends left in the media and political connections in Georgia that the fray could get ugly. I refuse to let this get pushed through without a good fight.

ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal is considering extending the state sales tax to online purchases, he told newspaper publishers Thursday.

Eight states already tax electronic commerce, but most states have held off because Congress had signaled it would devise a national model to simplify the thousands of tax rates used by state and local governments across the country.

Deal said he wasn’t content to wait on Congress to act on immigration enforcement when he signed a tough law last year and that states may grow tired of waiting for federal leadership on e-commerce, too.

“In the absence of congressional activity on that ... I think there will be some appetite to act on that in the legislature,” he said. “That’s still in the very, very early stages of discussion.”

The governor told the members of the Georgia Press Association that it could be a way to replace taxes the state would give up by exempting energy factories use from sales tax, an idea he is pushing this legislative session in hopes it will lure more manufacturing employers.

Legislative leaders said later they haven’t heard a formal proposal to tax online purchases, but might favor one.

“It’s not something that can be easily done,” said Rep. Mickey Channell, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Federal court decisions limit how states can apply the tax, he said, adding that he favors it as a former retailer.

“It makes no sense to me to punish our brick-and-mortar merchants who pay local property taxes and provide jobs and make them charge a 7-percent higher price,” said Channell, R-Greensboro.

Rep. Ron Stephens, chairman of the House Economic Development Committee, also likes the idea.

“I’m just glad we’re trying to level the playing field,” said Stephens, R-Savannah.

[PDXreader]

Thanks for keeping us informed!

[akagorilla]

This is going to frustrate you.

I was discussing the potential online tax law in Georgia with an influential political blogger last week. One argument he had in favor of the bill is that it would be ok that affiliates would lose the majority of their online income because the state revenue boost would outweigh the fact that affiliates are generally intelligent people that can reinvent themselves when necessary. It's supplemental income for most so the unemployment rate won't go down overall.

So if the bill becomes a law and Amazon and the big merchants and a handful of clueless small merchants terminate relationships with 6,000 Georgia affiliates, politicians are ok with that because we can rise from the ashes.

We are looking into research that will show that state income taxes will be affected and could null or outweigh any net gain from online sales tax revenue.

Thoughts on this free market concept? I think it's very flawed.

[akagorilla]

Tax reform might not be on the agenda this year after all. Phew...

[msladybug]

Originally Posted by akagorilla

Tax reform might not be on the agenda this year after all. Phew...

Thanks for posting akagorilla, I sure hope that's the case. Do you have a source you heard this from or an article you can point to?

[akagorilla]

Originally Posted by msladybug

Thanks for posting akagorilla, I sure hope that's the case. Do you have a source you heard this from or an article you can point to?

Source in the State Senate. Not official because there is still talk but best guess is not this year.

[tlemke]

It's back -- article in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution says this is very much an open item, with as much as $20 million in lost sales tax revenue just from amazon.com. A bill is being drafted to use amazon.com's affiliates as proof the company has a physical presence in Georgia and therefore must collect and remit state sales tax.
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insid...sus-the-world/

[akagorilla]

ARGHHH ! @#$%##$

The one Sunday I didn't read that piece of crap newspaper I used to work for.

Prepare accordingly for war.

[akagorilla]

Here is my blog post explaining how it will affect me personally. Georgia Affiliate Tax

[Arachnophobe96]

Originally Posted by akagorilla

... “It makes no sense to me to punish our brick-and-mortar merchants who pay local property taxes and provide jobs and make them charge a 7-percent higher price,” said Channell, R-Greensboro...

And it makes a whole lot of sense to hurt out-of-state vendors in favor of in-state stores who have votes and make campaign contributions. (To a politician.)