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Another very real and expensive proposition from the point of the marketplace seller is the cost of compliance in each State and within each State every municip

Another very real and expensive proposition from the point of the marketplace seller is the cost of compliance in each State and within each State every municipal tax district. Collecting sales tax is relatively easy, filing to remit that tax in each state is a varied, difficult and expensive process that most "mom and pop" retailers can't easily comply.

siruncledrew 9y ago
I wonder if this would actually help the Chinese sellers on Amazon, since they could continue to undercut the "mom and pop" sellers, who have to factor in added costs for compliance and tax.
- crankylinuxuser 9y ago
  The US government already makes it cheaper for us to get Chinese goods. Admittedly, it was to protect mail service between countries, but as most things, is being gamed. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439532/us-postal-service-subsidizes-china-other-countries-it-shouldnt http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439532/us-postal-servi...
s73ver_ 9y ago
And yet, this has been a thing long before Amazon existed. They were able to pull it off back then.
- ghaff 9y ago
  It actually hasn't. Anyone without a presence in the buyer's state who shipped anything out of state (aside from some particular bigger ticket items that are registered to the buyer in some way) simply didn't collect sales tax and left it up to the buyer to pay any "use tax" they owed at tax time.
  - lostapathy 9y ago
    And those sales were a tiny fraction of the economy compared to today, so comparatively speaking, it mattered a heck of a lot less.
mikeash 9y ago
Aren't there services that can handle this for smaller companies? Delivering physical goods to thousands of households scattered across the US is an even more varied, difficult, and expensive process, yet many "mom and pop" companies do it with ease by outsourcing it.
- draw_down 9y ago
  Yes, there are. "It's hard" is not really a great excuse for not doing this.

siruncledrew 9y ago

I wonder if this would actually help the Chinese sellers on Amazon, since they could continue to undercut the "mom and pop" sellers, who have to factor in added costs for compliance and tax.

crankylinuxuser 9y ago
The US government already makes it cheaper for us to get Chinese goods. Admittedly, it was to protect mail service between countries, but as most things, is being gamed. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439532/us-postal-service-subsidizes-china-other-countries-it-shouldnt http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439532/us-postal-servi...

s73ver_ 9y ago

And yet, this has been a thing long before Amazon existed. They were able to pull it off back then.

ghaff 9y ago
It actually hasn't. Anyone without a presence in the buyer's state who shipped anything out of state (aside from some particular bigger ticket items that are registered to the buyer in some way) simply didn't collect sales tax and left it up to the buyer to pay any "use tax" they owed at tax time.
- lostapathy 9y ago
  And those sales were a tiny fraction of the economy compared to today, so comparatively speaking, it mattered a heck of a lot less.

mikeash 9y ago

Aren't there services that can handle this for smaller companies? Delivering physical goods to thousands of households scattered across the US is an even more varied, difficult, and expensive process, yet many "mom and pop" companies do it with ease by outsourcing it.

draw_down 9y ago
Yes, there are. "It's hard" is not really a great excuse for not doing this.