Musiciansfriend Charges Sales Tax in CA Now

[milod]

Okay, I'll get a bit into political philosophy, if not politics...

 

I think a major difference is that when you have a populace that is not only used to, but wants deeply to take care of themselves, and are interested in what taxes they pay from their own labors, and have a government close enough to look their representatives in the eye, you have a generally pretty good governance. It may lack bells and whistles, or it may have palaces, but it will be pretty much what those paying the bills wanted to see.

 

The problem arises when two factors intrude: First, that people don't care about taking care of themselves and their direct neighbors, when government is the cop on the beat rather than the rep in city, state or national councils whom they've never met. Second, when short term personal gain is seen within the general culture as preferable to long-term group gain. One might still become wealthy without cheating other individuals or society as a whole.

 

So...

 

m

[TommyK]

What we need is a corporate income tax on campaign contributions. I.e., the political parties pay an income tax.

[marvar]

It happens with internet purchases as long as the store is within your state, I have to pay sales tax on items from Amazon.

Yes, and the same with Guitar Center, if you buy on line, as they have stores in almost every state. Here in Tn we have a sales tax, and everything I've bought online from GC, they have added state sales tax.

MF hasn't started collecting tax here yet though.

[milod]

Tommyk...

 

Actually you'll never see an income tax on political parties for two reasons. First is the first amendment and second is that they'd simply figure another and less regulated way to do their promotions. That's true regardless of party in the U.S., at least.

 

OTOH, I'd rather like to see a better accounting of who's paying for what ads.

 

m

[TommyK]

A guy can dream can't he?

[milod]

<grin>

 

m

[retrosurfer1959]

Not SC, we just got Amazon because of that also. They had refused to come into SC unless legislators agreed to not charging SC residents a sales tax on purchases.

 

 

Perfect example of my quote above SC has required that use tax be paid for all purchase made on the internet for at least the last four years, The tax law is SC is one of the clear ones see the law below. You owe the on any and everything you buy out of state already however there not doing much collecting but that changing dramatically and in at least 15 states now not reporting unternet purchases for Use Tax payments is now a trigger for audit.

 

Like many other states, South Carolina imposes a use tax on tangible personal property purchased at retail from outside South Carolina for use, storage or consumption in South Carolina. This includes purchases made via the internet, catalog companies, or when visiting another state or country. The use tax also applies to a lease or rental of tangible personal property from out-of-state.

The use tax complements the state sales tax that is imposed on in-state purchases. The use tax rate is the same as the sales tax rate. That rate is determined by where the tangible personal property will be used, stored, or consumed and not where the sale actually takes place. Therefore, the tax rate will generally be the 6% state rate, plus any applicable local option use tax rate for the location of use.

 

nobody loves taxes but there part of life in todays modern society, School taxes are usually the lions share of state tax expenditures in the property tax venue, and it's annoying for many that they do such a poor job and that we all pay to educate others children, I know it bugged me to pay for school taxes when my child was in a private school that I paid for in full. that's why schools are in so much financial trouble now they use to have almost 100% approval for bond elections every 3-5 years now the bond elections are being approved at about a %40 ratio nation wide so school spending is in huge deficit and will continue to be until they fix a very broken system.

[indiekiduk]

They now have a discount code now to save the tax:

 

code: NOTAX2

blurb: California residents we pay the %9.75 tax on purchases $99+

 

[bluesguitar65]

They now have a discount code now to save the tax:

 

code: NOTAX2

blurb: California residents we pay the %9.75 tax on purchases $99+

 

That could go up if Jerry Brown's prop 30 passes. [crying]

[badbluesplayer]

Hey all you Sherlock Holmes' -

 

So the reason they're charging tax is the same reason they've been charging tax for the last million years. Because they have a facility there. Just like every other vendor on earth. It has nothing to do with any internet tax initiative stuff.

 

Maybe they're charging tax because the moon turned purple. Or maybe Mars just veered off into Los Angeles. Maybe gravity is acting upward.

 

[pippy]

One of the big problems here in the UK is in the the tax system itself which helps large corporations evade paying what would, for an individual, be the 'correct' amount of tax.

 

In one well-publicised example recently the coffee retail giant Starbucks was found to have paid practically no Corporation Tax over the last 14 years.

 

According to a report by the highly-respected Reuters News Agency, a total of £8.6 million has been paid in this period. This balances(!) against sales of more than £3 Billion in this same period.

 

Last year they generated sales in the UK of £398 million ($635 million). Guess how much Corporation Tax they paid on that income?

 

Answer at bottom of page.

 

P.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

£0.00 (or $0.00).

[milod]

I think one of the "tax" questions that few will mention is that which caused two major ... difficulties ... in North America way back in the latter half of the 1700s.

 

First was the question of taxation without representation as well as some other concerns having to do with business that led to armed conflict I call the first American Civil War of the 1770s and resulted in 13 North American Brit colonies becoming independent from the UK.

 

Second is less known, but to me far more appropriate to current political analysis not just in the US, but in most "modern" economies in both hemispheres.

 

The so-called "Whiskey Rebellion" in the nascent U.S. brought the president of the nation himself to put on a uniform and lead troops to put down farmers who felt they had been taxed without representation on the one product that could bring their regions any capital at all: distilled spirits.

 

So my political theory tends to gloss over "parties" and that sort of gamesmanship that is obvious on the surface, and perceive that largely "we" have an increasing split between urban and rural interests.

 

The recent U.S. presidential election to me is an excellent example if one notes that the urban and urban-influenced areas voted one way and the rural and rural culture areas voted the other.

 

That's not "party politics" regardless that some might consider it so, because it demonstrates to me a political dynamic over the past 60 years of the post WWII era that crosses national lines and has brought some major changes in various "parties" in China and South America as well as in Anglophone nations.

 

I find it interesting, too, that in the US, many urban folks calling themselves "socialists" would like to see an end of the US Senate that was designed from the beginning as a way for smaller "states" to have their particular interests represented in order that there would be protection from majority populations' political wants. For example, a state with significant fisheries interests could have a degree of protection from an anti-fish majority in a state producing large amounts of pork and chicken.

 

Again to use the U.S. as an example, in the 1950s and early 1960s, both major political parties were expected to have an agriculture policy that would be endlessly debated in states with large ag populations and where ag produced a significant amount of the state's gross "domestic" product.

 

That has gone away. Regardless that in some states agriculture is at least one of the top producers of revenue, the populations in those states has changed to the point that they are either concentrated in urban areas or have become sufficiently separated from agriculture in social and political culture that ag is irrelevant to their mind set.

 

China, to me, is an interesting example of that, and I'm watching how they manage to cope.

 

But...

 

All kidding aside, I think it's time that "modern or whatever you wanna call them" societies had best begin to concern itself with its own food supply and what consequences are soon to hit them from ignoring the shrinking numbers but growing importance of agriculture to feed growing populations.

 

Yeah, I wrote that quickly and with compound-complex sentences. OTOH... if you read it and don't see truth... just wait 20 years.

 

m

[RS1976]

Musicians Friend is Guitar Center in Disguise, and not a very good one. Thus they don't get any of my money. if anything, i get theirs.

 

Here's to their rot.

 

[Kaiser Bill]

Doesn't ebay now get a slice of the pie from all sales?? I don't do ebay...so I am going by what I've heard from those that do.

[Jeff-7]

Pretty decent slice, so does Paypal.

[milod]

Within 10 years, more likely within the next four, we'll see that national sales tax accord in operation.

 

Last I heard it was something like 26 states had reorganized their local and state sales tax systems so they could interlock with a national system. For example, a South Dakota purchase from MF would automatically have by zip code the proper state and local sales taxes added.

 

Technically most states already have a sales tax called "use tax" on the books. But other than for larger business purchases, there's functionally no enforcement mechanism.

 

The national sales tax compact would change that and make it automatic.

 

m

[milod]

BTW...

 

MF giving that much discount, almost 10 percent, is almost immoral from the perspective that others don't get that advantage.

 

Therefore they're giving almost a 10 percent discount to Californians... Sheesh. I'll take an extra 10 percent discount myself.

 

m

[badbluesplayer]

Within 10 years, more likely within the next four, we'll see that national sales tax accord in operation.

 

Last I heard it was something like 26 states had reorganized their local and state sales tax systems so they could interlock with a national system. For example, a South Dakota purchase from MF would automatically have by zip code the proper state and local sales taxes added.

 

Technically most states already have a sales tax called "use tax" on the books. But other than for larger business purchases, there's functionally no enforcement mechanism.

 

The national sales tax compact would change that and make it automatic.

 

m

 

I think you're right. The national sales tax thing is probably right around the corner. Places like Tennessee have a high sales tax, and they want that money really bad.