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by djredman on Fri Jun 22, 2018 8:06 am
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Don't know. What was reported on the news this AM.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:41 pm
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Thom Hogan posted a good insightful article on this issue:
http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/sup ... rules.html
 

by photoman4343 on Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:12 pm
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EJ, thanks for the link to Thom Hogan's post on this topic. I learned more from his post than from all of the newspaper articles I have read on this this subject.

I just cannot imagine the impact this will have on Internet retailers that will have to deal with thousands (maybe 10-15,000)of taxing entities in 50 states. Writing software for this is not as simple as some are saying. Congress needs to step in and make this far simpler and less costly for all concerned, but I have little faith they will do it the right way. The Internet buyer is now faced with higher prices to reflect the sales tax and higher merchant costs to deal with administering all of this. Paying a sales tax is one thing; paying for a inefficient and costly system is another.
Joe Smith
 

by E.J. Peiker on Sat Jun 23, 2018 5:10 pm
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photoman4343 wrote:EJ, thanks for the link to Thom Hogan's post on this topic. I learned more from his post than from all of the newspaper articles I have read on this this subject.

I just cannot imagine the impact this will have on Internet retailers that will have to deal with thousands (maybe 10-15,000)of taxing entities in 50 states. Writing software for this is not as simple as some are saying. Congress needs to step in and make this far simpler and less costly for all concerned, but I have little faith they will do it the right way.  The Internet buyer is now faced with higher prices to reflect the sales tax and higher merchant costs to deal with administering all of this.  Paying a sales tax is one thing; paying for a inefficient and costly system is another.
They can't agree on what direction the sun rises and sets in...
 

by Ed Cordes on Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:40 am
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As usual, what seems so simple is actually totally complicated by the details. I sell about 10prints a year in NY. In order to sleep at night I judiciously keep good records and file my NYS sales tax every February. This is more complicated than you would think as 1. the reporting year is February to February not January to January like IRS reporting. I also must detail the jurisdiction in which I sold the print. My county has 8% while NY City has 8% + its own sales tax. On an on for each county or sub division within a county. I can't imagine a large entity like B&H or Hunts dealing with all 50 states. That said, I agree with the basic principle that, even though it will cost me more money, the states should be entitled to collect at least some of the tax funds they are losing to on line sales. After all, if I buy a car in any other state I still pay sales tax in my own county.
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by Wildflower-nut on Sun Jun 24, 2018 12:02 pm
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Just as soon as congress fixes this, maybe they can fix all those unsolicited sales calls I receive.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:30 pm
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Ed Cordes wrote:As usual, what seems so simple is actually totally complicated by the details.  I sell about 10prints a year in NY.  In order to sleep at night I judiciously keep good records and file my NYS sales tax every February.  This is more complicated than you would think as 1. the reporting year is February to February not January to January like IRS reporting.  I also must detail the jurisdiction in which I sold the print.  My county has 8% while NY City has 8% + its own sales tax.  On an on for each county or sub division within a county.  I can't imagine a large entity like B&H or Hunts dealing with all 50 states.  That said, I agree with the basic principle that, even though it will cost me more money, the states should be entitled to collect at least some of the tax funds they are losing to on line sales.  After all, if I buy a car in any other state I still pay sales tax in my own county.
Ed
It doesn't have to be too complicated. In NM, the compensating tax rate is only 5.125%. No city, municipal, county, etc. taxes are applied. It doesn't matter what city, town, etc. is the location of the buyer. I can live with that, as long as the state doesn't lose out totally. My rate in Santa Fe is 8.4375% when an item is purchased locally, so you still save when you order from out of state. Food and medicine are exempted from taxation, but the rate for other items probably makes up for that. Here is the regulation from the current tax forms:
Image
Large corporations have tax people who should easily be able to figure it out if it's as simple as NM's system.

Joe
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by scorless on Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:32 am
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Joe,
In the state of NM it is an extremely complicated issue. In fact, one of the states problems is that it can't get businesses to move here because of the NM Gross Receipt Tax. Yes, in NM it is a GRT and not a Sales tax. Some industries and professions are required to pay the tax and have no way to pass it on to the consumer of the services or goods that are being purchased. For those it becomes and unfair income tax. I am one of those professions. NM would see their financial picture improve over all if they would overhaul the entire system. Many states need to do the same but NM is one of the worst. Those actions alone would go a long way to improve the economic situation that the state finds itself in. I find it very difficult to defend the state of NM's tax system and how it is applied no matter how many schools are struggling. 

This decision has some far reaching implications that will create some very complicated court cases around tax and how it gets applied by states. 

A state of NM taxpayer that gets audited on GRT almost every year.
Sandy Corless
 

by SantaFeJoe on Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:09 am
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scorless wrote:Joe,
In the state of NM it is an extremely complicated issue.......Yes, in NM it is a GRT and not a Sales tax. Some industries and professions are required to pay the tax and have no way to pass it on to the consumer of the services or goods that are being purchased. For those it becomes and unfair income tax. I am one of those professions.

A state of NM taxpayer that gets audited on GRT almost every year.
Sandy
A business is not required to pass along the tax, only pay it. When I do business, I generally keep things simple by charging a set price and then backing out the tax and paying it. I don’t see how you cannot include the tax in your charges, even though you may not be disclosing the tax in your billing. Some businesses are reluctant to provide me with a non-taxable certificate, so they are paying the tax I am required to pay the state along with the cost of the goods they are purchasing. What’s sad about that is that the consumer ends up paying tax again when they purchase the product. I know you are familiar with NM taxes, but here is a link:

http://realfile.tax.newmexico.gov/FYI-105%20-%20Gross%20Receipts%20&%20Compensating%20Taxes%20-%20An%20Overview.pdf

Joe
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by scorless on Mon Jun 25, 2018 2:48 pm
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I will drop this after this comment because I am not sure it is part of the discussion other than how totally complicated this all is. But you need to understand many of us to do control what we can charge, that is done by regulators and federal law. So we do not have the ability to pass any of the tax on to the consumer. However, the state of NM requires that we pay the tax because it is a tax on our gross revenue not a sales tax that is paid by the consumer. Therefore, there are many businesses in NM that are paying this tax on our revenue like an income tax. We have no means to pass it on to the consumer. It does not matter whether or not you have made a profit that month or not you pay the tax.

That is why NM can not attract new companies that would help our economy and therefore the schools etc.
Sandy Corless
 

by Mike in O on Mon Jun 25, 2018 7:49 pm
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scorless wrote:I will drop this after this comment because I am not sure it is part of the discussion other than how totally complicated this all is. But you need to understand many of us to do control what we can charge, that is done by regulators and federal law. So we do not have the ability to pass any of the tax on to the consumer. However, the state of NM requires that we pay the tax because it is a tax on our gross revenue not a sales tax that is  paid by the consumer. Therefore, there are many businesses in NM that are paying this tax on our revenue like an income tax. We have no means to pass it on to the consumer. It does not matter whether or not you have made a profit that month or not you pay the tax.

That is why NM can not attract new companies that would help our economy and therefore the schools etc.
All state's taxes are unfair to someone but some how we all survive.  Intel is in NM?...they only go where taxes are low or where a university is great (Oregon being the exception, cheap electricity)
 

by E.J. Peiker on Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:08 pm
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I worked for Intel in NM for 11 years before moving to AZ!
 

by Mike in O on Mon Jun 25, 2018 11:14 pm
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E.J. Peiker wrote:I worked for Intel in NM for 11 years before moving to AZ!
Is Intel still active in NM or AZ?
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Jun 26, 2018 12:15 am
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Yes in both.  Intel is one of Arizona's top 10 employers with 11,000 employees and the Ocotillo (Chandler, AZ) site is the single largest manufacturer of microprocessors in the world.  It is part of a North American Free Trade Zone established by NAFTA.  yes NAFTA also helps American companies...  For scale, the horizontal dimension of the picture is almost exactly 1 mile.  There is a second large campus in Chandler but it does not do any manufacturing.  The site below site is almost purely manufacturing.
Image
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue Jun 26, 2018 2:06 pm
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PMike in O wrote:
scorless wrote:I will drop this after this comment because I am not sure it is part of the discussion other than how totally complicated this all is. But you need to understand many of us to do control what we can charge, that is done by regulators and federal law. So we do not have the ability to pass any of the tax on to the consumer. However, the state of NM requires that we pay the tax because it is a tax on our gross revenue not a sales tax that is  paid by the consumer. Therefore, there are many businesses in NM that are paying this tax on our revenue like an income tax. We have no means to pass it on to the consumer. It does not matter whether or not you have made a profit that month or not you pay the tax.

That is why NM can not attract new companies that would help our economy and therefore the schools etc.
All state's taxes are unfair to someone but some how we all survive.  Intel is in NM?...they only go where taxes are low or where a university is great (Oregon being the exception, cheap electricity)
Hey Mike
You are right about NM taxes. Here is some insight into why Intel and Facebook are moving in:

https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2017/07/25/how-facebooks-deal-compares-to-intel-and-others-in.html

Read about the huge incentives for Facebook here:

http://www.govtech.com/biz/Facebook-Invests-1B-to-Triple-Size-of-New-Mexico-Data-Center-Project.html

And how it is affecting our economy here in an article from yesterday:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/report-exemptions-may-be-holding-back-n-m-s-tax/article_870e1090-fd72-510e-b8ca-1830e0827e8d.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

Our state and our cities have squandered tax money like water through fingers with projects like Spaceport America, our Railrunner train system, a super computer that was one one the fastest in the world, but was scrapped (literally sold for scrap) quickly because it became outdated, and the city of ABQ’s ART(Albuquerque Rapid Transit) bus project. From reports available online, Facebook will only employ 50 full-time employees, despite the huge incentives mentioned in the govtech article linked above. The online taxes that may be collected will not help much if the state doesn’t come to its’ senses, but they are welcomed by me.

Joe
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by Mike in O on Tue Jun 26, 2018 3:35 pm
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Those data centers are good for construction initially and bad for electrical consumption. In our neighborhood, facebook has 2 data centers (Apple has 1) that because of cold nights in Central Oregon don't use AC to cool all those computers. They use enough power to run a city of 500,000. Facebook has been very generous to the city of Prineville in lieu of the tax breaks.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue May 07, 2019 10:03 am
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Innovative way to make paying the sales tax painless, but, in reality, the taxes are still being paid:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/882813287 ... redit-card

In regard to the Facebook issue, now they are asking the electric ratepayers of the Public Service Company of New Mexico to pick up a 39 million dollar cost for an extension line to bring in renewable energy from another part of the state. Our total population in NM is only 2.095 million and not all are PNM customers! They only serve about 781,000 homes and businesses, so how much does Facebook expect each customer to pick up?

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by Mike in O on Tue May 07, 2019 10:42 am
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Joe, it is only fair that New Mexico (near the bottom in State's wealth) citizens pick up that tab since that Facebook facility will supply 50 permanent jobs.
 

by Greg Downing on Tue May 07, 2019 1:58 pm
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FWIW I now have to calculate, collect and remit sales tax returns to about 26 states. This is due to NSN having inventory in warehouses all over the country (via Amazon FBA) so we have "nexus" in a lot of states. We decided to take it upon ourselves to comply with all states where we have nexus rather than have states come after us later looking for back sales taxes. There are a LOT of companies selling on Amazon and privately who are now basically breaking the law by not doing so. I am now paying many 100's a month out of my pocket to simply track, calculate, manage and file returns (on top of the actual tax which comes from the customer). It's not fun but it was bound to happen eventually. There are some states that have gone directly to Amazon for collection and remittance (south carolina for example) in which case we are hands off. IMO that is how it should be. Not many businesses can take the kind of hit that we have taken in order to comply. It's a paperwork nightmare, costs us a lot of time and it's an expense we did not have before. 

B&H just announced a credit card that reimburses you for sales tax. You may be seeing more of that as companies look for ways to get an advantage.
Greg Downing
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by Mike in O on Tue May 07, 2019 2:07 pm
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Greg, don't you have a computer data base which calculates the tax?... should be easy.
 

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