Buy an Electric Car: Save the World, Taxes, and Possibly Your Manhood

What is it with guys and their Teslas these days? Every “cool” guy I know seems to be obsessing on the virtues­ – and the looks – of a Tesla. One kept me up too late on the phone recently droning on and on, and on, about his new purchase, after he updated me on [...]

Drugstore.com Withdraws Appeal Against New Jersey

***** drugstore.com withdraws its appeal of February 2008 decision & agrees to pay $1.7 million to resolve sales and use tax case ***** What do you do when your local drug store, supermarket, or bodega no longer carries your favorite shampoo, but your hair just won’t behave without it? You log on to drugstore.com and [...]

The Must-Read E-Commerce Paper of the Year

State, Local Governments to lose at least $11.4 billion in sales tax revenues to Internet by 2012 If anything, today’s headline might understate its case. Not only is “State and Local Government Sales Tax Revenue Losses from Electronic Commerce” the e-commerce paper of the year, it could very well be the must-read study of the [...]

Sales Tax Receipts Show Worst Decline in Half a Century

Sales tax receipts make up one of the best indicators of how a consumer-driven economy is faring. We’re not faring well. And sales tax receipts are the primary source, outpacing income tax, for the majority of state budgets. Based on the numbers you’re about to read, you can easily understand why so many state budgets [...]

Take Me Out to the (Internet Travel Booking) Ballgame!

Just a couple of weeks ago, I opened a post with, “As local jurisdictions are searching high and low for tax revenues, one area they continue to target is unpaid occupancy taxes and, in this vein, yet another online hotel booking company sales tax case has caught my attention, this time coming out of the [...]

Ontario, Will Sales Tax Harmonization Really Be a Good Thing?

Facebook is a funny thing. Through it, for example, I made the ethernet-only acquaintance of my biological father’s brother, a Toronto-based Ph.D., former book store owner, author, documentarian, and go-to expert on the topic of Asian organized crime rings that operate in North America. As an adoptee, I’m fascinated by the idea that (what I [...]

Cover Charges to View Pole Dancing in NY Strip Club – nontaxable as art !??!

I just don’t know how I’ve been getting the reputation for writing about the sexy side of sales tax issues, but numerous people have called my attention to this particular story and practically begged me (some even panted, which is not an easy thing to do via email) to address it here. So much so [...]

“Temporary” CA sales tax hike in effect, as of today

In an effort to raise approximately $5.8 billion over its lifespan, the “temporary” California sales tax hike of 1% is scheduled to expire either July 1, 2011 or July 1, 20012, should voters move to keep the higher rate (even laid back Californians are capable of mobilizing, as we learned not so long ago on [...]