It hasn't been widely reported yet...oddly enough for some reason mainstream NY media has conveniently ignored this...

http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3740056/

I know not everyone will read thru that article...so here's a snippet

""With the passage of the hotly debated state budget last night, New York legislators approved a bill that will require many online retailers to begin collecting sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even if they have no operations or employees working there.""

Is it just me...or does NY seem to be on a moneygrab recently...first with the "congestion tax" crap and now this...

This totally violates the Interstate Commerce clause, I thought we gave up this kinda crap activism with the departure of Client 9

Those who feel like acting...a call to your local assemblyman/representative wouldn't hurt. And if there's someone not in NY reading this...this is coming soon to a Theater near You too!

Be proactive.

It's happening in California too! Soon we will all be paying taxes on anything bought anywhere in the world. gotta keep that modern cash flow going.

wait, so if you live in NYC and buy something online, NYC wants you to pay tax on the purchase even if the webstore is in arizona or some shit?

yep, its now included in the budget they voted on and passed last week was it.
Although, I'm hoping that farce of a Supreme Court will strike it down if they really push for it, at least for now. But it's only a matter of time really before this WILL spread nationwide.

I mean...you do know...technically we do have to pay. It's called the Use Tax(same % as local sales tax) and most states have it and its been on the books for ages. It applies to goods used IN the state but bought/brought in from other states.
Most people don't report it(or even know)...even tho it is required by law.

The govt Desperately wants to get at this untapped source of funding, and making e-sellers pay...does seems like an easier way, rather than running a messy and very public campaign with threats of mass audits to force people to pay the use tax...

Problem is...last time I heard...there were 20,000+ tax districts in the USA. I mean if you think about it just in general, NYC, Suffolk, Nassau, Upstate all have different sales tax.
This really is gonna SCREW the little guy...Amazon and all the huge sellers probably can afford to comply, but its the smaller places that might not be able to as easily.

I blame tax and spend democrats/borrow and spend republicans equally!

Wasn't this shot down in the 1800s?

Ordered a new usb hub to replace one that I stepped on and
I saw this message today on Amazon at the checkout screen

Due to a new law recently passed by the State of New York we are required to collect NY sales taxes on taxable items sold by Amazon.com on or after June 1st, 2008. If your order is placed prior to June 1st, your Order Total may not include an estimate of NY sales taxes, but those taxes may still be charged if your order is readied for shipment on or after that date.

Sigh...here it comes

Edit: Newegg sent an email out as well

Whenever the man (whether the man is state or national) isn't getting his cut or see's he could get a cut of something, he begs to step in like a little I FART A LOT and whine... Our government is totally in the pockets or corporations, and the supreme court is their biggest tool, so I doubt they will strike down taking any money from your average american. Well at least we an still order abroad online without the man stepping in with a tax (for now).

C.

Quote:
Amazon filed suit against the state late last month. Now Overstock.com has become the first major Internet retailer to cancel its relationship with affiliates in New York. Affiliates are Web site owners who get commissions for referring customers to an online store. They are important because New York State is requiring any company that has an affiliate in the state to collect sales taxes on its behalf. Until now, companies had to collect taxes only if they had a physical presence, such as an office or factory, in the state.

“We believe the law is unconstitutional and won’t stand the test of the courts, but in the meantime we have been very careful to keep our footprint just in Utah,” said Jonathan Johnson, Overstock’s senior vice president for corporate affairs. “We can’t afford to have our New York affiliates up online if it subjects us to New York sales taxes.”

The company’s goal is “showing the New York governor and legislature that this is bad for New York businesses,” Mr. Johnson said. “There are affiliates in New York who will see their business go away because of a not-so-thoughtful action by the New York State legislature.”

Mr. Johnson said Overstock has 3,400 affiliates in New York State, though not all of them are active. The largest is NextJump, a provider of employee benefit programs. It also cut off some comparison shopping services, such as Jellyfish.

Mr. Johnson added that Overstock also ended its relationship with Entertainment Publishing, the unit of IAC/InterActiveCorp that prints discount coupon books. It worried that since it paid for coupons as a percentage of sales in which they were used, this deal might force it to collect sales tax for the state.

The state hoped the new legal interpretation would bring in $50 million a year to help close New York’s budget gap.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/1 ... f=nyregion