Do lots of US citizens really think that such a simple dodge could save them paying tax on bought items?
Most American's never pay the use tax (the end of the year portion where you would declare your purchases), so yes, most American's think that by purchasing in another state, they can avoid paying any sales tax their state assesses (they ignore the fact that they are supposed to pay use tax in their state on those purchases).
Government itself bares a large burden for this problem; in the past, governments never even attempted to asses use taxes on anyone for small and moderate items, now that they are cash strapped and think citizens will suddenly respond kindly to enforcement of a tax that hasn't truly been enforced in decades.
I'm sympathetic to the argument that not charging sales tax on internet purchases is regressive (the poorest people are paying the most taxes.)
That's not what regressive means. The poorest people pay a higher percentage of their income in a regressive tax, not necessarily a higher amount or the most amount.
Someone making $300K, spends $200K and is taxed at 7% on those purchases; they've paid $14,000 or 4.67% of their income in sales tax. A person making $20,000 has to spend a larger portion of their money to live, likely all $20,000, they still pay a 7% sales tax; they've paid $1400 in sales tax or 7% of their income. The wealthier person still paid the most in sales tax, however, the poorer person paid a higher percentage of his/her income.
Wtf. Capital gains tax? Really? You're going to tax someone for investing in the economy? Really?
Capital gains is currently taxed at an extremely preferential rate of 15%. You're still being encouraged to invest in the economy. A large negative of this preferential rate is that many very wealth people accumulate wealth via capital gains and do so at a 15% rate. Take Warren Buffett for example; he has long made claims that he pays a lower percentage than his secretary does in income tax. The reason for this is that effectively all of his income is via capital gains while his secretary pays at the ordinary income tax rates.
Deductions, inheritance tax, etc? Really?
The government is trying to get you to engage in certain behavior by incentivizing in. For instance, the deduction for charitable contributions. If a tax incentive is provided, people will engage in activities they may not have otherwise (donating to charity, saving for retirement, spending on business machinery, etc).
Idk, it all seems rather counter-intuitive to me.
I assure that it makes more sense if you study it, however, there is still some stuff that kind of blows the mind. The
generation skipping transfer tax is one that really blew my mind when I first heard of it. If Grandpa wants to gift grandson his entire estate because grandson's daddy smokes too much crack, get ready to be hit with one of the toughest tax penalties in existence.
Since we're supposed to be the land of equality, I'd rather just see a flat tax and be done with it.
The overall tax burden is fairly flat. There are more taxes than just the progressive federal income tax. Other regressive taxes, such as sales tax and payroll taxes make the system fairly but not entirely flat.
without the taxation of business, which would result in said businesses spending that money by either investing, or on new employees/hires, which benefits everyone.
I agree that we should not tax corporations. We have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world and it certainly doesn't help our corporations be competitive in a global market.
For serious?
Fu*k that.....I'm not about to claim the money under the table transactions.
You mean the under the table transaction you made on your credit card, had shipped to your house, and that Amazon keeps a record of that states are trying to make Amazon disclose? Doesn't sound so under the table to me...
Hate to break it to you, but as someone familiar with basic auditing procedures, nothing is really "under the table."
