On Fri, 30 Jun 2000, John Perich wrote:
> Laugh all you want - Maryland comptroller (and former Governor) William
> Schaefer is trying to track down "use tax dodgers" in MD. This is a notable
> "problem" in Maryland, since we're remarkably close to Delaware--which has
> no sales tax. Since I alternate back and forth between Boston and
> Baltimore, and since the Maryland government is an incompetent shibboleth,
> I'm not too worried about being hounded for receipts - but you never know.
>
> Yesterday's absurdity is tomorrow's policy - as always.
Too true.
One question -- If you go to Canada and spend money there, you can send
copies of your reciepts and recieve a refund for the money you spent in
taxes there. Does anyone know if there are any states which will do the
same?
On a related note about sales tax on the Internet: as a technical person,
and I can assure you that it will be a nightmare to implement. There are
only 50 states, but there are thousands of cities and towns with their own
sales tax on top of the state's. According the Philip Greenspun, there are
around 7,000 taxing juristictions in the US
(http://www.arsdigita.com/books/panda/ecommerce). You can buy a CD-ROM
with these juristictions and their rates from www.salestax.com. And who do
you pay the tax to? This "use tax" law would imply you should pay it in
your own state, but it'd be easier to pay at the point of sale.
I'm against internet taxation (well, almost all taxation, but I digress),
but I think the only way that internet taxation could work would be a
national sales tax. :(
Luke Francl
