CA Collects Online Sales Tax 09-15-2012

byrec123

626 followers

13 years ago

On 09-15-2012, Amazon and 200 top online retailers will begin collecting sales tax in California and about 8 other states, due to a law suit from last year. Already, there are some spikes in the sales from CA before the 15th. This will naturally peak in the next 10 days as more people are informed of the approaching deadline, and then it will drop back to a normal volume. This evens out the marketing field a little bit for brick-and-mortar retailers, as many shoppers will return to physical stores where they can purchase items without the delay of shipping.

This may prove to be very confusing in the future as governing agencies start to enforce their confusing laws. In California most unprepared food is tax exempt, for the most part. For example, a baked whole pie is tax exempt, but if you slice the pie, then the sold slices are taxable! It gets worse in some cases, because in California they call it a "sales and use tax". So an item can be taxable or not depending on it's use. A bale of hay sold to feed a horse is taxable; the same bale sold for a rabbit is non-taxable. (Source: State of California, BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, Sales and Use Tax Regulation, Regulation 1587. ANIMAL LIFE, FEED, DRUGS AND MEDICINES. Reference: Sections 6018.1, 6358, and 6358.4, Revenue and Taxation Code.) But, big government loves that tax flow!