Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!yale!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!vsi1!zorch!xanthian From: xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Sales Tax issues Message-ID: <1990Jun17.184634.9574@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Date: 17 Jun 90 18:46:34 GMT References: <4346@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <13343@netcom.UUCP> <4373@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: SF Bay Public-Access Unix Lines: 28 It won't make a bit of difference in the short time that the educational discounts have to run, if I understand rightly, but this might be of interest anyway. Mail order houses _detest_ collecting sales taxes for out of state sales. Not because they care all that much about the money they pass from customer to taxing authority (though it does decrease somewhat a price advantage they have over the local shops), but because it forces them to understand and correctly apply the incompatible (and frequently incomprehensible) taxing rules of so many jurisdictions, a nuisance that can cost big bucks for a big mail order house. As a result, a couple of the larger houses (I seem to remember Land's End) are taking the states trying to tax imported mail order from other states to court to have their taxing power nullified. Personally, since the constitution forbids tarrifs between the states, I think the taxing states don't have a leg to stand upon, but I respect the reality that courts can strain at gnats, and interpret the most clear English in the most amazing manner. Kent, the man from xanth. -- ... and don't worry about your deposits; they're insured to the HILT by Republic Savings and Loan of Lubock, Texas -- Garrison Keilor, American Radio Company of the Air, Season Finale, "Prairie Home Companion Fourth Annual Revival", 16 June 1990.