Package Delivery Tax?

[scloyd]

Chicago is considering a 'package delivery tax'. All packages delivered to your door under 50# would have a $1.25 delivery tax. The tax would be $2.50 for packages over 50#. It is up to the seller to pay the City of Chicago the tax.

Is this happening anywhere else...perhaps where you live? Any thoughts on this?

 

[ray47]

Not happening here in South Carolina, but give it time.

 

[pantsBoots]

Wow. Not happening here. How exactly are they going to track this? Sure, the USPS could put an automatic flag on every trackable parcel and forward to the city of Chicago, but how are they going to track DHL, Amazon, UPS and FedEx? Or is this something that all carriers will have to incorporate into their fee and then remit on behalf of the purchaser (similar to sales tax)? What happens when a package is sent without tracking? This seems like a council member's pipe dream and difficult to enforce.

 

[greeneyes]

Isn't the USPS federal, and therefore state and local governments are unable to legally interfere with its operation? Just an observation but one I'd heard before regarding interstate seizures.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So, like the postage isn’t tax enough? So, like I predict people getting PO boxes in the suburbs.

 

[scloyd]

Wow. Not happening here. How exactly are they going to track this? Sure, the USPS could put an automatic flag on every trackable parcel and forward to the city of Chicago, but how are they going to track DHL, Amazon, UPS and FedEx? Or is this something that all carriers will have to incorporate into their fee and then remit on behalf of the purchaser (similar to sales tax)? It seems difficult to enforce.

Not sure how they'll do it. When it comes to collecting more taxes...they'll figure it out.

Anyone interested can Google Chicago Package Delivery Tax.

 

[scloyd]

I predict people getting PO boxes in the suburbs.

Packages sent to friends, family, work and PO boxes are a few ways to get around it.

 

[pantsBoots]

Not sure how they'll do it. When it comes to collecting more taxes...they'll figure it out.

Anyone interested can Google Chicago Package Delivery Tax.

Not sure I agree with that. Look at out of state internet sales. The buyer is supposed to keep track, somehow calculate sales tax and then remit at the appropriate time to the appropriate agency. When they realized how difficult it would be in having the states simply communicate with each other, they simply decided (for now) to have internet retailers collect tax for in-state purchases and the rest be damned.

 

[scloyd]

Not sure I agree with that. Look at out of state internet sales. The buyer is supposed to keep track, somehow calculate sales tax and then remit at the appropriate time to the appropriate agency. When they realized how difficult it would be in having the states simply communicate with each other, they simply decided (for now) to have internet retailers collect tax for in-state purchases and the rest be damned.

From the Chicago Sun-Times
To avoid a collections nightmare, the ordinance states: “It shall be the duty of each seller of tangible personal property sold at retail and delivered to a location within the city by ground delivery service to collect the tax.” Sellers that fail to “collect and remit the tax…shall be liable to the city for the amount” left uncollected.

 

[gerryp]

Everybody is ordering delivery because of Covid, which is enough of a pain in the ass in itself, and those a-holes want to make money from it.
Next up: Kleenex tax for those attending funerals.

 

[Sonorisis]

I'm having a hard time imagining what financial burden package delivery puts on a municipality that we haven't already paid for many times over. We got taxed for the roads and the delivery company got taxed for the same roads. The buyer got taxed for the purchase. What ever managerial costs the city experiences are already paid for by our property taxes. Whatever local revenue is lost to an extra-municipal transaction is lost because local vendors aren't meeting the desires of their customers (i.e. bad business). In that vein, such "lost revenues" never belonged to the city in the first place.

This seems hard to justify in any light other than the municipality screwed the pooch and wants citizens to pay for that.

 

[scloyd]

A Chicago alderman made a comment that because of all of the Covid online purchases and deliveries...there's more garbage/cardboard to pick up on trash day.

 

[pantsBoots]

From the Chicago Sun-Times
To avoid a collections nightmare, the ordinance states: “It shall be the duty of each seller of tangible personal property sold at retail and delivered to a location within the city by ground delivery service to collect the tax.” Sellers that fail to “collect and remit the tax…shall be liable to the city for the amount” left uncollected.

Gotcha. So this is deliveries that originate and terminate within the city. If Amazon sends Chicagoans (did you hear how I pronounced the 'Ch'?) goods from out of the city limits, all taxes are null and void.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

Maybe a citizen initiative to put a 200% income tax on politicians?

 

[briarbuck]

 

[gerryp]

A Chicago alderman made a comment that because of all of the Covid online purchases and deliveries...there's more garbage/cardboard to pick up on trash day.

If I thought for one minute that a tax like that would give all our trash men a raise, I might not be as pissed. Our trash men are amazing.

I doubt this is the case in Chicago.

 

[gerryp]

I'm having a hard time imagining what financial burden package delivery puts on a municipality that we haven't already paid for many times over. We got taxed for the roads and the delivery company got taxed for the same roads. The buyer got taxed for the purchase. What ever managerial costs the city experiences are already paid for by our property taxes. Whatever local revenue is lost to an extra-municipal transaction is lost because local vendors aren't meeting the desires of their customers (i.e. bad business). In that vein, such "lost revenues" never belonged to the city in the first place.

This seems hard to justify in any light other than the municipality screwed the pooch and wants citizens to pay for that.

Hey, they have palms to grease! That ain't cheap ya know...
?

 

[bent1]

What if a resident returns the package to the shipper? Is the tax refundable? Are they taxed again for the pickup?

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

If it happens here, I'll get around it. I'm done going along..

 

[olkofri]

City halls desperately need the cash they're losing due to forcing their businesses to close. It's gonna come from either fines or taxes.