Yeah, so we are better off buying from somewhere else that is legally tax free year long.
Sadly for us NYers…..our overlords are very hungry for our money. Which will be spent poorly, ”necessitating“ more money. Yet, as a state, we keep electing the same people…hmmm
With all the smoke-and-mirrors in corporate accounting, I sometimes wonder if my sales tax actually winds up in the appropriate hands... or if it winds up in one of those off-shore accounts where Uncle Sam can't get it. Whatever your thoughts on government, I'd like to be sure my dollars are going where they are claiming to go. Otherwise, Apple and others are just padding their pockets illegally.
Apple will have to file sales numbers and pay the tax when they file, which can be monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the state. My guess is monthly because the state wants as much cash as quickly as possible. I do it annually because my taxable sales are small.
Only those "mom-and-pop" stores may even think about that. And they can only attempt to steal the cash portion of the sales since credit card sales are easily traceable. If big companies do that, they'll have whistle-blowers in no time because of the IRS reward system. Basically, the whistleblower will get the 15-30% of the amount that the IRS collects from the company. Easy and legal money to retire on for any salaried employees.
Part of the challenge is then making up for lost revenue from out of town tourists and business travel; plus some jurisdictions have a local tax to pay for various local projects which would mean adding a local income tax as well. A better option would be to have no sales tax on groceries and the first x dollars of other necessities such as clothes. That reduces the burden on lower income citizens while still taxing higher end purchases, and has less of an impact on out of state purchases.
