Kirsten Mortensen's blog

Spitzer’s changed his mind about his new Internet commerce tax policy.

In a second major policy reversal in less than a day, Governor Spitzer is backing down from a plan to require Amazon.com and other online retailers to charge state and local sales taxes on all purchases from New York.

Yesterday, just hours after The New York Sun reported on the new revenue collection scheme, the Spitzer administration announced that it was burying it for the time being — at least until after the Christmas shopping season. The move saved New York City shoppers from having to pay an additional 8.375% on many Amazon.com goods.

He realized that state Republicans were going to score another easy body blow with this one — they were going to name it “the Grinch tax” and call Spitzer to task for reneging on his campaign promise not to raise our taxes.

Not that Spitzer wasn’t ready with a response to that charge.

Here it is, from the lips of Paul Francis, the governor’s budget director:

“I don’t regard it as a tax increase. It’s only a tax increase to the person who is paying it.”

But of course!

(Have I mentioned lately that New York State residents pay the highest taxes of any state in the U.S.?)

Technorati Tags: Eliot Spitzer, New York taxes

Just to clarify my last post.

The real “loophole” Spitzer has closed with this new tax policy is that, in the past, we taxpayers were supposed to voluntarily report our Internet shopping and voluntarily pay sales tax on our Internet purchases.

He figures not everyone does this. So he’s going to make retailers collect the tax on our behalf.

What bugs the bejeepers out of me is that the state keeps asking for more, more, more. If our government wanted to demonstrate leadership and fiscal responsibility, they’d figure out a way to make do with what they have.

Instead they sit around dreaming up new ways to make us pony up more & more & more of our cash.

The Internet should have been left alone in the first place. New York State should have respected the Internet as a place where commerce could be left alone, for once, to flourish without a sales tax burden.

At the least, the state should have satisfied itself with revenues from NY State-based Internet companies.

It’s been a shameful affair from the start and Spitzer’s latest move only adds to the shame.

Technorati Tags: Eliot Spitzer, New York State, sales tax

Here he goes again.

The governor of New York State, where we already have the dis-honor of paying the highest taxes of any state in the nation, has enacted a new decree.

We must now pay NYS sales tax on all of our Internet purchases, regardless of where the retailer is located.

Just like the driver’s licenses for illegals scheme, this was done without prior disclosure, by executive fiat.

It goes into effect in two weeks — December 1, 2007.

Here’s a little background from the NY Sun article:

Having pledged not to raise taxes, Mr. Spitzer is increasingly scrounging for ways to close a projected $4.3 billion deficit next year. State officials estimate that this latest initiative, which goes into effect in December, will bring in about $100 million more each year, split between state and local government tax revenue. Statewide, the sales tax averages about 8%, although in New York City it is 8.375%.

During this year’s budget debate, Senate Republicans and business groups labeled many of Mr. Spitzer’s revenue-raisers as tax hikes, while Mr. Spitzer insisted he was simply closing loopholes.

So. It’s not a new tax. It’s “closing a loophole.”

More background:

When it comes to charging sales tax, e-retailers have been held to the same old standard that the U.S. Supreme Court set for mail-order vendors: The seller only needs to collect the tax on purchases in states where the vendor has a physical presence, such as a storefront or salesman. New York is saying that it has found a way around that obstacle to tax collection. Many e-retailers may have unwittingly lost their exemption because of the way they direct traffic to their Web sites, according to a tax memo recently released by the state’s tax department.

At issue is the “affiliate program” used by many e-retailers. Web site operators can provide a link to an e-retailer in return for a commission on any sale resulting from customers using the link. While the affiliate program may consist of little more than a non-descript advertisement on the computer screen, the tax consequences may be huge: New York state says it is the equivalent of having an instate salesperson.

You know what? When Spitzer was State Attorney General, he could pull of his pseudo populist schtick because, when it came down to it, the average New Yorker couldn’t really feel the consequences.

But now his actions affect us. They offend our sense of fairness and decency. They take money out of our wallets.

I hope reaction to this is on par with reaction to the driver’s license debacle. He needs to understand that raising our taxes is neither good governance nor good politics.

Got a $4.5 billion deficit?

CUT SPENDING.

The same way I cut my spending when my salary doesn’t cover my expenses.

It ain’t rocket science, Eliot.

Technorati Tags: Eliot Spitzer, Internet tax