The (Pennsylvania) Tax Man Cometh

[seacaptain]

Someone will have to take this to the Supreme Court, but it won't be me.

I get that since you're in PA, but if I were SP, I'd just ignore the PA "legal" requirements, and let them sue me instead. I guarantee they won't because states have no legal way to regulate interstate commerce unless the Federal.gov changes existing law.
PA is bullying on-line retailers and SP caved.

 

[prairiedruid]

It already is at the Supreme Court.....
Supreme Court sales tax case
Oral arguments are scheduled for April 17.

 

[mikefu]

Colorado implemented the same thing a couple years ago. We have a $300 per retailer per year minimum though, so I try and stay below the minimum and buy from several retailers.

 

[prairiedruid]

It will be a cash cow for the states but also it helps level the field for B&M stores vs. online sites. Remember tobacco will never be as cheap as right now....

 

[woodsroad]

It already is at the Supreme Court.....



Supreme Court sales tax case
Oral arguments are scheduled for April 17.

"WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide if states should be able to collect taxes on internet sales, which would generate billions in revenue for local governments, but also raise the cost of online shopping for consumers."
Not one mention of infringement of rights. It's all about shopping.

 

[prairiedruid]

In the decision on this in the 1990s the court sided with business saying it was too hard/impossible to have a business charge the correct sales tax rates set by 50 different states not to mention municipalities. With the growth of technology this has changed; Amazon has proved this over the last several years. The issue of right infringement wasn't really discussed in that case. We'll know more in a couple of weeks because the Supreme Court oral arguments are released to the public in a pdf file as well as they have started to have some audio files.

 

[7ach]

That was one of the only advantages i saw with smoking pipes over pipesandcigars. Guess ill start bothering my out of state friends...

 

[woodsroad]

Yup, Smokingpipes will be seeing decreased sales to Pennsylvania. And increased sales to border counties of NJ, DE, MD and Ohio until those states enact similar tax provisions. Sales to NY will probably remain unchanged!

 

[brian64]

We interrupt this thread to bring you an important announcement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOOmhrCu3gg

 

[mikefu]

That's hilarious, Brian! :clap:

 

[perdurabo]

Oops, four days ago Ga passed internet sales tax in (I believe) 12 counties in metro Atlanta area, looks like some cushy jobs will be Abolished, this will only hurt the Atlanta area. Statist are on the move in this Locked down state. Funny though, they could only get votes for those counties in Atlanta. Ha Ha Ha. Check out the voter map in Ga to see why. :rofl:

 

[perdurabo]

As government spends more and more, you are going to see this. This will only crush upward mobility for the poor.

 

[woodsroad]

I'm guessing that those are all the people who didn't pay PA Sales Tax on their SP purchases, right?

 

[peckinpahhombre]

April Fools joke?

 

[brian64]

I'm guessing that those are all the people who didn't pay PA Sales Tax on their SP purchases, right?

Either that or maybe someone was caught selling cigarettes on the sidewalk so they had to call out the stormtroopers.
But hey, if you want to turn a city police dept into a high-tech mechanized army rivaling that of 2nd world countries you gotta have that tobacco revenue.

 

[smittyd]

I just looked and ...Dammit i live in PA this sucks!

 

[ssjones]

I'm shocked that this is occurring now. We've had this in place in Maryland for maybe two years (give or take).

 

[jitterbugdude]

I'm shocked that this is occurring now. We've had this in place in Maryland for maybe two years (give or take).

Really? I'm in MD and was not aware of it. Why is there not a box for me to check on smokingpipes like woodsroad gets to check?

 

[perdurabo]

Because you probably don't live in a county that requires this, jitterbugdude. That's a guess, based on what happened in my State.

 

[9mmpuffer]

My advice... if you like pipe tobacco and you have an extra few thousand dollars lying around...load the cellar now because it's only going to get worse and worse. Don't be surprised if the pickings are slim in 5 years and tobacco costs double!
I'm in Canada and tobacco has gone sky high here... I only smoke pipes and pipe tobacco is $35-40 a tin. Cigarettes are now $14/pack. Govts need money badly and they know where to find it easily.