Originally Posted by neuroanatomist
Great post, John.
You touched on one of the downsides of buying from a brick and mortar - they take all the fun out of tax collection.
As you know, all states that have sales tax have built systems to increase the enjoyment and fun of buying things out of state. Under penalty of law they require us to:
- Spend hours tracking every penny spent out of state.
- (Whether in person, by phone, over the internet, or mail order.)
- Calculate how much sales tax they would have paid if they had bought it in state ("use tax").
- File use tax forms every month (a few states only let you have this pleasure once per quarter).
- Send in the money!
Talk about fun, right!? What's even more exciting is the possibility that you may be audited for use tax at some point in the future. Right now, the only people who get to enjoy the fun of that are business owners and folks already selected for a state income tax audit. Nothing like the fun of furnishing receipts for every item you own to prove that sales tax was already paid (like a friend of mine did a few years ago -- he loved it!).
For the most daring among us, there are several exciting choices:
- Track every penny and send in payments every month like a good citizen (Yay! Taxes are so much fun!).
- Perjure yourself on your income tax return by saying "no" to the line asking if you bought anything out of state (oooh, rebel!).
- Don't file use tax returns at all!
The last one is the best, because if you haven't filed your monthly use tax returns for the last 30 years, the accumulated penalties and interest will be enough to finally fund that new freeway overpass the state has been wanting.
Personally, I love the fact that 99% of Americans are evading tax, many of them liable for probably tens of thousands of back taxes, penalties, and interest. Could you imagine a system where everyone actually *paid* their taxes? So much better this way.
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