Taxman Cometh

To dispel the myth of the tax-free Internet purchase, every Mainer should familiarize themselves with the laws of our great state. They will find that anyone purchasing taxable goods and services while in the state of Maine must pay the appropriate sales or service tax. Most responsible vendors operating in the state of Maine collect the tax at the time of purchase to free their customers from the task of recording, reporting and then paying the state its legal due. Buy a computer online from Apple to be delivered to an address in Maine and the sales tax is included in final price.

Some Internet vendors want to play a Harry Houdini with the sales tax. Making it disappear from their shopping cart, only to have it reappear at your tax time. They are going against several hundred years of common business practice to create an unfair advantage for themselves and precarious position for every Mainer who shops at their websites.

Dangerous for the customer who has the taxman knock on their door with an audit in hand. The sales tax that is not collected by these irresponsible Internet vendors and then the customer forgets to pay at tax time becomes an avalanche of penalties and late interest charges. So the Mainer who thinks they are getting a great deal online, in truth is opening their door to only find headache and heartache. Don’t think for a moment that the bean counters at the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (the Maine IRS) will not seek to justify their jobs by not collecting those overdue taxes.

If leveling the playing field closing the legal loophole that these companies are using to cheat Maine causes them pause, then it can only be a good thing. Because if these Internet vendors are underhandedly operating in Maine, one has to consider what other disreputable steps are they taking in the name of profit. 

Respect The Community

We all want the same things from the community where we live, work and play. A good community is defined by its safety, prosperity and equality. These are qualities that each community member must strive for in both their public and private lives. At times we act in ways that impact our communities without realizing the harm we have wrought. It can be so easy, as easy as a, “click away”.

This posting is not meant to discourage people from using the Internet, but to ask that the Internet respect the laws of our community. Any company seeking to conduct business, whether with a real storefront or a virtual shingle on the Internet, must obey the laws that the community has established. In Maine, we have a sale tax on certain goods and services sold throughout the state.

The sales tax funds the important work of state government to ensure the safety, prosperity and equality of each and every community in Maine. This is done because roads we drive on, the police who protect our homes, the schools that educate our children are of a benefit to everyone. The businesses that reside in our community recognize this and collect the sales tax at the point of sale to turn over to the state for the good of our communities.

There are some Internet vendors, Amazon.com and Overstock.com, who want the public to do the accounting work for them. They want each of to remember every MP3, every book, every gift we purchase online and then make sure the state receives it due at tax time. Truth is many of us will never account for every purchase while we struggle to get our paperwork done before April 15th. Those Internet vendors are counting on it, because by not charging the sale tax when we click on the purchase tab allows the Internet vendor the illusion lower prices. It is an unfair and soon to be illegal practice that only hurts the Maine street businesses that respect our laws, employ us and contribute to our communities in so many unseen ways.

In the coming weeks, this blog will delve further into the realities that these Internet vendors do not wish any Mainer to see.