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Amazon may dump California affiliates over web sales tax
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 29 June, 2011
Web sales tax in California may force Amazon to dump affiliates.
The gigantic e-commerce entity has over 10,000 affiliates in the wealthiest state of the union, and it warned them on Wednesday that it may have to sever ties with them if the state forces Amazon to collect web sales taxes.
Amazon affiliates are paid a fee when they direct traffic to the Amazon.com website and generate ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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Staff Member
4 product reviews
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1. July 2011 @ 19:18 |
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Originally posted by Semperfipal:
My family buys a lot from Amazon because of saving on the sales tax, and with many products you can get free shipping. I do most of my shopping online and try to avoid paying taxes and shipping. Sometime you have to pay, but in this economy, every penny I save helps in the long run. Half of my income goes for taxes (Income tax, sales tax, property tax, etc.) The middle class pays more than its fair share in taxes in the country.
Lucky guy..I use Amazon for mostly all of my shopping, as well, but have had to pay taxes for years now, thanks New York!
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arnould1
Newbie
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1. July 2011 @ 20:28 |
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thank you for going beyond what fox news or MSNBC cover, you are right! nobody talks percentages because they dont want the truth to be known by the general population for the "lower" class might actually get off of the sofa and begin to effect change
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ToadWiz
Junior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 09:03 |
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Some people (Jeffie) want to confuse the issues, because that's the only way they can win an argument. So the only thing I'm going to say about his "income tax" example is, if you REALLY think it's that simple, I have a bridge to sell you.
As far as age, I'm also 56, so keep your pissy, old-fart attitude to yourself. I can can rein in mine, so can you.
The ORIGINAL question was Amazon collecting sales tax. Now I personally APPROVE of CA taking this action, because I hope the rest of the country will realize what an ABYSMALLY STUPID action it is. Do you REALLY think that people will buy from a CA store and pay sales tax when they can buy from another state and avoid it? And the POINT is, if the US goes this route, won't that benefit stores in Canada, Mexico, and other countries? You see, you can TALK all you want, but lots of words don't make you smart and I have yet to see the supporter of sales taxes state, "Oh yes, I'll be glad to pay 10% more on my purchases to support California's overspending of their budget." Come on, wackos! We are waiting to hear you take the pledge!
Remember 2003? California's ivory tower representatives decided they could cap what they paid for power? What happened? Economic forces, which are NOT subject to political whim.
You see, the "evil" power companies were looking to the future. They knew they could build a plant in CA and make less money than they could in AZ, for example. So where did they build new plants? Of course, they were "EVIL" to upstage their politicians this way. What a nasty thing to do, to not support socialism! Naturally, the politicians, who can't see beyond their next election, couldn't do the simple math that tells them that the population of CA was increasing, therefore the power use was also, but the number of power plants wasn't. And we all know that the "evil" power companies are only interested in maximizing their profits - unlike fair and true liberals who will invest their money at a lower interest rate to receive a fair profit, and likewise will turn down a raise on their job because that's also fair and equitable... (My sarcasm isn't too difficult for you to understand, is it Jeffie?)
So, when California's needs outstripped their production, they were forced to buy power on the spot market, at up to 4 times the going rate. After all, the companies built in Arizona, which was making good money selling surplus power to Mexico, which meant CA had to BID for the extra power it needed because their politicians were too stupid to recognize that their laws had no affect on economic forces. Of course, it's the "evil" power companies' fault.
Get REAL. Learn to do math. Math is real and WHINING about math that doesn't agree with your childish expectations is immature, no matter how old you are.
There's no justice; there's just us.
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Jeffrey_P
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 09:14 |
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Cars, Guitars & Radiation.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. July 2011 @ 09:19
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ToadWiz
Junior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 10:42 |
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Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Why are you so long winded?
Oh, that's easy. WACKOS are always telling people really intelligent things like, "You waste your time looking up #'s ", which is doublespeak for, "I'm not smart enough to do the math, but I don't like the results, so they must be wrong."
I'm long winded in order to EDUCATE people who can't do math. So in reality, it's YOUR fault. If you could do the math instead of spewing out 15 second sound bites, I wouldn't need to correct your garbage.
Of course, you worked at STANFORD for 20 years - another ivory tower imbecile with lots of blue-sky theories, but not one shred of common sense.
And yes, I will have a nice 4th. I'm a 39-year veteran of the US Army and Texas National Guard, 4 combat tours, military specialties in Infantry, Armor, Intelligence, Psychological Warfare, and Computer Operations. I may not care for your crap, but I've put my @ss on the line to defend your right to be misinformed.
There's no justice; there's just us.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. July 2011 @ 10:43
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Jeffrey_P
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 11:27 |
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Originally posted by ToadWiz:
Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Why are you so long winded?
Oh, thats easy. WACKOS are always telling people really intelligent things like, "You waste your time looking up #s ", which is doublespeak for, "Im not smart enough to do the math, but I dont like the results, so they must be wrong."
Im long winded in order to EDUCATE people who cant do math. So in reality, its YOUR fault. If you could do the math instead of spewing out 15 second sound bites, I wouldnt need to correct your garbage.
Of course, you worked at STANFORD for 20 years - another ivory tower imbecile with lots of blue-sky theories, but not one shred of common sense.
And yes, I will have a nice 4th. Im a 39-year veteran of the US Army and Texas National Guard, 4 combat tours, military specialties in Infantry, Armor, Intelligence, Psychological Warfare, and Computer Operations. I may not care for your crap, but Ive put my @ss on the line to defend your right to be misinformed.
Jeff
Cars, Guitars & Radiation.
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ToadWiz
Junior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 12:29 |
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Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Jeff
You may be a wacko who can't do math, but I gotta admit, that is funny. My wife thought so to.
No, I'm not mad. I'm frustrated by people who can't do math wanting to export our jobs and raise the prices on what we buy by thinking that we can get money from the corporations so we won't have to pay it. That's fallacious - no one with a brain really thinks Lee Iacoca is going to take a pay cut if we raise the tax on Chrysler. Instead he's going to raise the prices to cover the tax, which means the consumer is going to pay through higher prices. Meanwhile higher prices mean less Chrysler's sold overseas, which means less US jobs. You think anyone could do the math to apply this to any company out there.
There's no justice; there's just us.
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Jeffrey_P
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 12:42 |
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Funny guy, my degree is in electronic which is 90% math. So really don't know where you come up with some of your stuff.
That's right FIAT owns Chrysler, Ferrari..... Unless there is some sort of master plan this is the way things will be the same for who knows how long.
Now that China owns the USA owing them billions of $$ with no way of paying them back, we better learn how to speak Chinese.
Will you please try to enjoy life and have a nice 4th
Jeff
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ToadWiz
Junior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 12:50 |
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Strange ... you claim to be able to do math but say, "You waste your time looking up #s." Oh well, maybe you forgot given your advanced age.
My Bachelors is in Computer Science and my Master is in Information Systems.
There's no justice; there's just us.
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Jeffrey_P
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 13:03 |
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I was an engineer for SLAC for almost 20 years.
My specialty is designing Radiological detection equipment. Best job I have ever had. Two jobs my whole 30 + year career. Guess I have enough knowledge to be a long-timer.
Unfortunately I could no longer work because of health issues.
I sure do miss it and painful at times.
BTW, I have come across people with a piece of paper say they have a degree in this and that but are basically useless. It shows with real world experience.
Jeff
Cars, Guitars & Radiation.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. July 2011 @ 13:21
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Bozobub
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 13:44 |
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Um, I think you need to rethink your analysis of the CA power Crisis, because you left out Enron. They were CAUGHT not building infrastructure solely to drive up power prices, you know. It was pretty freaking blatant too. Blaming the entire problem on any one party is, quite frankly, dangerously foolish, and perpetuates the myths ALL of the actual guilty parties want you to believe.
Folks, it's a combination of:
- Taxpayer ignorance, laziness, and inaction,
- Politcal lack of will/spine, ignorance, laziness, inaction, and flagrant greed, and
- Corporate hog-trough, lassez-faire, Teapot-Dome crap that we STILL let them get away with.
Blaming any one party lets 2/3 of the real guilty parties off the hook, and is pure bullshit.
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ToadWiz
Junior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 14:06 |
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Originally posted by Bozobub:
Um, I think you need to rethink your analysis of the CA power Crisis, because you left out Enron. They were CAUGHT not building infrastructure solely to drive up power prices, you know.
Bozo, I don't disagree with some of your message, especially about ignorance, laziness, and inaction. But surely you can understand the difference between your statement above and the equally true statement, "Enron looked at the bottom line, determined they could amortize a plant in 40 years in California with a hostile government which might make things worse, or could amortize the plant in 15 years in Arizona."
BOTH statements describe the exact same process. One is skewed to make a company look more "evil" for failing to kowtow to California's legislators. In fact, I pointed out in my original post that Enron made the choice for the highest profit, even as most consumers do with looking for a savings account, or as employees do when wanting the highest pay for their work. I am not defending Enron nor am I defending naked greed. But it takes a special kind of mentality (liberal) to say that corporate greed is infinitely worse than personal greed. Is corporate greed evil and immoral and personal greed acceptable? Maybe so ... in California.
Yes, Enron made the deliberate decision to build where they could get the highest profit, something the boneheaded California legislators didn't have the intelligence to figure out regardless of the number of degrees they had, as Jeffie pointed out. This stuff is simple economics. It is a shame so many people, with or without degrees, can't do it.
There's no justice; there's just us.
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Jeffrey_P
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 14:10 |
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Good one also PG&E tries to skate while laying off workers and installing smart meters which use a wireless connection that are less accurate at this point in time than the old analog, real people reading the meters.
PG&E should have done preventive maintenance instead of trying to be cute with their billing process.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/06/09/pge-reveals-san-bruno-pipeline-suffered-major-leak/
Hey Toadwarts why do you have to grade yourself by name calling
Very Sophomoric
Jeff
Cars, Guitars & Radiation.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. July 2011 @ 14:13
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Jeffrey_P
Senior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 14:16 |
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Originally posted by ToadWiz:
Originally posted by Bozobub:
Um, I think you need to rethink your analysis of the CA power Crisis, because you left out Enron. They were CAUGHT not building infrastructure solely to drive up power prices, you know.
Bozo, I don't disagree with some of your message, especially about ignorance, laziness, and inaction. But surely you can understand the difference between your statement above and the equally true statement, "Enron looked at the bottom line, determined they could amortize a plant in 40 years in California with a hostile government which might make things worse, or could amortize the plant in 15 years in Arizona."
BOTH statements describe the exact same process. One is skewed to make a company look more "evil" for failing to kowtow to California's legislators. In fact, I pointed out in my original post that Enron made the choice for the highest profit, even as most consumers do with looking for a savings account, or as employees do when wanting the highest pay for their work. I am not defending Enron nor am I defending naked greed. But it takes a special kind of mentality (liberal) to say that corporate greed is infinitely worse than personal greed. Is corporate greed evil and immoral and personal greed acceptable? Maybe so ... in California.
Yes, Enron made the deliberate decision to build where they could get the highest profit, something the boneheaded California legislators didn't have the intelligence to figure out regardless of the number of degrees they had, as Jeffie pointed out. This stuff is simple economics. It is a shame so many people, with or without degrees, can't do it.
Read the post above.
Cars, Guitars & Radiation.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. July 2011 @ 14:16
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ToadWiz
Junior Member
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2. July 2011 @ 14:38 |
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Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Good one also PG&E tries to skate while laying off workers and installing smart meters which use a wireless connection that are less accurate at this point in time than the old analog, real people reading the meters.
Sure ... at this point.
Look everything we have argued about boils down to one simple thing. Everyone, person or corporation, wants as much as possible in return for as little as possible. That's greed, right?
Ok, all I'm saying is let's put some THOUGHT into the process and see where it takes us. Did Enron build plants in AZ rather than CA to boost their profits? Yes. What could we have done better? California legislators could have RECOGNIZED that by making things harder on corporations, they drive corporations and corporate investment out of their state. What can we do about it? Well, I suppose we could hold the CEO of Enron captive and put a gun to his head ... but short of that?
There is a REASON the economies of states with low or no income tax are showing economic growth. Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two others, New Hampshire and Tennessee, tax only dividend and interest income. Now let's check that list against states with a friendly business climate: http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/corp_inc.pdf shows that many of the sttes listed above also have low or no corporate tax. (What does this mean? Don't be a pig and people will come to your state to live and work. If you are a pig and generous with your benefits, don't be surprised if you have more people wanting handouts than paying into the system.
Here's a CNN article about GE, a favorite target: http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/16/news/companies/ge_7000_tax_returns/ GE reported a US tax loss of $408 million, and an international overal gain of $10.8 billion. Because of this, they got a US tax benefit of 1.1 million of your tax dollars. On the other hand, they paid taxes to more than 250 jurisdictions around the world.
Here's at least a somewhat fair quote about what it all means: http://theweek.com/article/index/213590/why-doesnt-general-electric-pay-taxes
Blame the tax system: The problem here is not that GE is a "greedy corporation," says James Joyner at Outside the Beltway, but that we have a "humungous tax code" with loopholes that "amount to corporate welfare." We can't blame GE for maximizing its profits within the system and rules we've created for it.
"GE pays zero taxes: Hate the game, not the player"
Blame our corporate tax rate in particular: The U.S. corporate tax rate is, at 35 percent, "the highest in the world" says Conn Carroll at Heritage.org. So it's no surprise that GE does everything it can to avoid paying it. Until we reduce the corporate tax rate to something more competitive, companies like GE will continue to flee offshore. "Our system is clearly broken." It's time for the government to fix it.
"General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt: Looter or producer?"
Blame the politicians: The "culprit" here is our political system, says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, which has structured a "Byzantine" tax code to "curry favors and pick winners and losers in the market." So what has the Obama administration done to help end this? It has made Jeffrey Immelt, GE's chief executive, chairman of his council on jobs and competitiveness. No doubt Obama's latest hire will do all he can to maintain the status quo. "Thieves are rarely interested in catching other thieves."
Once again, it's SIMPLE ECONOMICS. Ireland's corporate tax rate is 12.5%. Any wonder why corporations are sending manufacturing facilities to Ireland? So if we want jobs to stay in the US, we need a lower corporate tax rate to encourage them to stay here. That's why I HOPE California is stupid enough to insist on taxing Amazon. When Amazon leave, it will be an example to the rest of the country of what NOT to do.
There's no justice; there's just us.
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