In today's pages: Internet tax (!), the Supremes, Mexico, and marketing ethnicity
The Times opinion pages prepare you for tax day on Wednesday with this cheerful thought: You probably owe use taxes on goods you bought last year over the Internet. From the Editorial Page:
Every book or appliance bought through Amazon.com, every autographed Manny Ramirez jersey or Hannah Montana lunch box bought from a vendor on EBay, carries the same tax obligation as if the item were purchased in a brick-and-mortar shop down the street from the buyer's desktop.
The page also grapples with the U.S. Supreme Court, which in turn is grappling with the question of punitive damages. The court has ruled that juries can't award grossly excessive punitive damages, but what constitutes grossly excessive?
In advance of President Obama's visit to Mexico, newspaper columnist and university professor John M. Ackerman urges the president to cement ties not just with his counterpart and with the national elite, but with other insitutions, including the opposition.
A meeting between Obama and like-minded leaders on the political left in Mexico would send a much-needed message that the U.S. president is interested in the future prosperity of all Mexicans, not just the wealthy and powerful linked to the present administration.
CBS News Chief Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen envisions a Supreme Court that pays for itself through advertising. And Columnist Gregory Rodriguez takes on the effort by Bangladeshi Angelenos to create a Little Bangladesh - out of a portion of Koreatown.
Why this time we will see the Internet tax:
President Obama is a strong ally of the new tax laws and is expected to sign them into law. Internet companies like Amazon.com, eBay and Google are outraged. Until now, they have remained recession proof by offering products at lower prices than comparable brick and mortar stores.
This is because congress has been unsuccessful in enacting Internet tax laws for at least seven years. They have argued that reduced sales tax revenue threatens budgets for schools and police, and say that, as a matter of fairness, online retailers should be forced to collect the same taxes that brick-and-mortar retailers do.
While these arguments have been unsuccessful so far, the National Conference of State Legislatures and its allies believe the recession has sliced into sales tax revenue so much that Congress will have to act. In addition, Obama is said to support this legislation, along with a broad coalition of Democrats in congress. A report this week from the Rockefeller Institute says that sales taxes have declined by 6.1 percent, the largest decline in half a century.
Outrage is huge. See the comments here and sample prices after the new tax.
http://www.butasforme.com/2009/04/20/obama-and-congress-poised-to-end-tax-free-internet-shopping/
Posted by: Jordan Madison | April 20, 2009 at 12:33 PM