RE: ebusiness and a free lunch

[Robert Hoffmann <escape@alt-escape.com>]

At 09:05 AM 1/5/99 -0800, Steve Cooke wrote:
>Robb,
> There is also the issue that email purchases are not required to pay sales 
>taxes in Idaho.

Let's be clear on this:  The tax amnesty for Internet sales is in terms of
ADDITIONAL taxes.  If the company would already assess a tax, then it will
continue to do so for ecommerce.  It's simply that jursidictions may not
tax transactions on simply because they took place on the Internet.

I have been charged sales tax in the past for ecommerce purchases.
(Companies will always charge you sales tax if they have a physical
presence in your state).  Also, I am currently setting up an ecommerce site
for a computer interface company.  They do business in every state, and the
ecommerce software automatically calculates tax.

So buying on the Internet is much like buying through a mail-order company.
 Sometimes they charge sales tax, and sometimes not.  The real threat here
is the rising popularity of ecommerce and the Internet--we can expect a
greater share of total purchases to be made online in the future.  As in
the WalMart discussion, there are pluses and minuses.  We may get cheaper
prices online (benefitting the consumer), while we sacrifice the expertise
of our local merchants, and send our dollars out of the community.

Of course, there are local people who also hawk their wares & services on
the Internet, so some people are using this medium to bring dollars into
Moscow....


Robert Hoffmann                      817 S. Adams
Alt-Escape Adventures                Moscow, ID  83843  USA
http://www.alt-escape.com            Phone: (208) 883-0642
	             Fax:   (208) 883-8545