THE TAX MAN'S KNOCKING!

July 20, 2009

We warned in an earlier post, that the tax collectors will be coming after everyone and anyone who they think may owe additional taxes. The latest attempt comes from Pennsylvania where the "Commonwealth" (yeah, apparently they don't think they're a "State") is attempting to collect taxes on Internet purchases of cigarettes. An 83-year old woman from Pennsylvania just received a bill from the "Commonwealth" for nearly $4,500 in back cigarette taxes from purchases she had made on the Internet. Gladys, stick to your guns and question if the statute is written to only allow "States" to collect taxes on cigarette web purchases or if it actually uses the "Commonwealth" terminology? If not, tell them to take a hike! We have to fight fire with fire. They'll try to laugh off the terminology reference as not "relevant", but do you think it would be relevant if they were making the argument?

Only by fighting the upcoming tax collection onslaught do we have any hope in stopping this nonsense. Plus, the "Commonwealth's" Comptroller stated, in support of this collection attempt, that "Everyone should know that they owe sales tax on ANY Internet purchase, regardless of where you live or where the company is located." So, obviously they intend to go after anyone who has made any Internet purchase and who has not paid the applicable sales tax. If Pennsylvania is successful, other fiscally irresponsible States will certainly follow their example and even expand it to include any purchases made over the web.

Think about how many purchases you've made over the years on the Internet without paying sales tax because you lived in a different State (or Commonwealth) than the company selling the merchandise. Apparently, all tobacco purchases are required to be reported to the Federal Government regardless of where the selling company is located (i.e., out-of-State, out-of-Country). Therefore, at least for tobacco, there exists a record of all purchases making it very easy for these "bloodsuckers" to take even more of your hard-earned money.

There's a belief, even among attorneys, that it's impossible to fight Federal or State governments over issues like these. If that attitude is allowed to continue, what chance do we have?