Let's talk about "online sales tax"....[gunbroker].

[Orion8472]

So, I've been selling a few things on gunbroker. Every so often, the purchaser has to also pay sales tax. I got thinking about this. Why would that be the case? The item, when purchased new, was taxed. Isn't me selling my private things, and a state getting sales tax off it, basically a double tax? And what if THEY sell it to someone else who lives in a state that requires sales tax? Triple taxed? Does that sound right to anyone else?

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

Yes, it is double and triple taxes.

No, it doesn't sound right.

Thank SCOTUS, for a ruling that essentially destroyed written law: i.e. the seller must have a physical "nexus", a physical presence, in the state to collect sales tax.

SCOTUS upended that a few years ago.

Keep in mind, neither the seller nor GunBroker"charges" sales tax. They collect it, usually in exchange for a small (very small) cut.

The various States charge sales tax.

 

[JONWILL]

It’s all about tax money for the government. Imho, we are entering the largest cash grab by the government in US history

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Essentially the sales tax is virtually paid by the purchaser to their home state based on the value of the sold item, with the retailer collecting the state sales tax on behalf of their home state and passing it on.

I don't think sales of used items are exempt from the sales tax in a brick and mortar store.

In fact every time I have physically bought something in another state, I paid that state's taxes whatever they were called but I was not charged my home state's sales tax rate and the tax paid did not go to my home state. In fact I was not charged my home county or city sales taxes.

I too got a little spoiled back when out-of-state sellers did not collect sales tax on out-of-their-state buyers.

 

[dogtown tom]

So, I've been selling a few things on gunbroker. Every so often, the purchaser has to also pay sales tax. I got thinking about this. Why would that be the case? The item, when purchased new, was taxed. Isn't me selling my private things, and a state getting sales tax off it, basically a double tax? And what if THEY sell it to someone else who lives in a state that requires sales tax? Triple taxed? Does that sound right to anyone else?

It's a SALES tax. You make a SALE, you collect a SALES tax.
To be exempt from paying a sales tax on an item that will be resold, the buyer would need to possess a sales tax exemption permit. Every state that has a sales tax has such a permit.

Whether sales tax was paid by the first purchaser is immaterial.

 

[CapnMac]

1. Sales tax imputed on online sales is not new. GB collecting it is also not new.
2. Sales are sales--if you sell a used car, that sale is a new purchase. Ditto land, buildings, aircraft.
3. There is a legitimate question in there, though.

Which is upon which amount is the tax based. If something is $100 and has a $7 excise on it, should the sales tax be based on $100 or on $107? If the latter, then the excise tax is being taxed, too.

That's a question of fiscal policy, of the philosophy of government, neither of which is really fodder for THR

 

[JohnKSa]

Yup.