earthpigg
September 23rd, 2010, 07:35 PM
This is a tangential response to another thread that was closed for devolving into a political and OS bashing thread.
The premise is this: US States and various other international entities are starting to charge sales tax for purchases made online (music downloads, physical objects, et cetera). I'm not going to provide specific links in an effort to avoid political discussion, so just take my word for it. :P
Taken to the extreme, the possibility exists that the UK will someday have it's own sales tax, and York will have it's own in addition, along with many other municipalities, provinces, states, etc, within any given set of national borders.
Here is my question:
How is someone supposed to establish a small-time business over the internet when 50 states and every nation (large and small) on the planet eventually has entirely different sets of tax rules, procedures, tax rates, etc?
How will State sales tax be enforced for businesses that are not headquartered within the US or other relevant geo-political entity?
The premise is this: US States and various other international entities are starting to charge sales tax for purchases made online (music downloads, physical objects, et cetera). I'm not going to provide specific links in an effort to avoid political discussion, so just take my word for it. :P
Taken to the extreme, the possibility exists that the UK will someday have it's own sales tax, and York will have it's own in addition, along with many other municipalities, provinces, states, etc, within any given set of national borders.
Here is my question:
How is someone supposed to establish a small-time business over the internet when 50 states and every nation (large and small) on the planet eventually has entirely different sets of tax rules, procedures, tax rates, etc?
How will State sales tax be enforced for businesses that are not headquartered within the US or other relevant geo-political entity?