Amazon Will Begin Collecting Sales Tax in Georgia

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
Messages
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It’s all fun and games until someone loses their tax exempt status. For Georgia, the fun is over with Amazon charging online sales tax for all Georgians beginning September 1st. The State of Georgia looks to make about $18 Million per year in new tax revenues from the Amazon sales tax.

The ability of e-commerce companies to skip out on sales tax has rankled bricks-and-mortar retailers, who have argued it gives retailers like Amazon unfair advantage. That soon may come to a complete end, if a bill wending its way through the U.S. House is passed.
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"GOD DAMN AMAZON DODGING TAXES! MAKE THEM PAY!!!"

"APPLE DODGING TAXES? ITS OK!!!!"

I hate american politics
 
ShamisOMally said:
"GOD DAMN AMAZON DODGING TAXES! MAKE THEM PAY!!!"

"APPLE DODGING TAXES? ITS OK!!!!"

I hate american politics
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The two situations are quite different. Apple avoids taxation by off-shoring corporate earnings. In this instance, it is not that Amazon has been actively dodging taxes (like Apple has), but it has simply not been collecting state sales tax, which it has had no legal reason to do. This has nothing to do with sheltering corporate earnings, and is not at all nefarious.

That being said, I suppose it is time for me to order all of the Amazon goodies that I will need in the foreseeable future. ;)
 
ShamisOMally said:
"GOD DAMN AMAZON DODGING TAXES! MAKE THEM PAY!!!"

"APPLE DODGING TAXES? ITS OK!!!!"

I hate american politics
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Every major company does it, but you are outraged because Apple does it. I bet if you were an Apple shareholder and you found out they were paying more than they have to you would be even more outraged.
 
Honestly, even if Amazon is forced to collect taxes in every state that has sales tax, "brick and mortar" retailers will still find something to whine about.

Most places simply refuse to compete with Amazon on prices and are stuck in a 1990's profit margin mindset...

Just last week I was doing some work on the house and the local big chain home improvement/lumber company didn't have what I needed. They told me they could order it and have it for me next week, and I simply told them "Sorry, but Amazon can have it to me in 2 days (free Prime 2-day shipping, yay!) for half of what you want to charge me.."

Same deal when I went with my mom when she took her car to the mechanic (so she didn't get ripped off... AGAIN...) and they wanted to charge her nearly $100 for a part (PLUS another for labor) you could get on Amazon for $30 (and for a much better brand than the Chinese garbage they use no less.) I told her I'd do the work myself and the mechanic got all pissy... but fuck them.

I try to support local businesses when possible, but frankly if you're business model depends on ripping people off on overinflated profit margins to keep things in the black, you need to go out of business.

It's the 21st century... compete with Amazon on prices AND service or kindly do society a favor and die.
 
Amazon was made on avoiding taxes the guy who founded amazon first looked into opening it's HQ in an indian reservation to avoid taxes.
 
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
Honestly, even if Amazon is forced to collect taxes in every state that has sales tax, "brick and mortar" retailers will still find something to whine about.

Most places simply refuse to compete with Amazon on prices and are stuck in a 1990's profit margin mindset...

Just last week I was doing some work on the house and the local big chain home improvement/lumber company didn't have what I needed. They told me they could order it and have it for me next week, and I simply told them "Sorry, but Amazon can have it to me in 2 days (free Prime 2-day shipping, yay!) for half of what you want to charge me.."

Same deal when I went with my mom when she took her car to the mechanic (so she didn't get ripped off... AGAIN...) and they wanted to charge her nearly $100 for a part (PLUS another for labor) you could get on Amazon for $30 (and for a much better brand than the Chinese garbage they use no less.) I told her I'd do the work myself and the mechanic got all pissy... but fuck them.

I try to support local businesses when possible, but frankly if you're business model depends on ripping people off on overinflated profit margins to keep things in the black, you need to go out of business.

It's the 21st century... compete with Amazon on prices AND service or kindly do society a favor and die.
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You do know amazon bleeds money regularly, it's profit margins are razor thin at all times, they can't compete with amazon because amazon doesn't hurt when it loses money, it's business model doesn't need profitability it's running places out of business and taking up market share it's effectively trying to create a monopoly.
 
Semantics said:
You do know amazon bleeds money regularly, it's profit margins are razor thin at all times, they can't compete with amazon because amazon doesn't hurt when it loses money, it's business model doesn't need profitability it's running places out of business and taking up market share it's effectively trying to create a monopoly.
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They have losses at times, but they have such a diverse business model that they always have divisions with huge profits to offset them.

Bottom line is they DO have profit margins and they are growing.

I really don't care how many businesses got of business if they are depending solely on large profit margins for their profitability. As I said, it's the 21st century and those kind of business models are not only determent to society as a whole, but they are archaic and becoming obsolete in the modern world.

You have to compete on service and sales volume these days. Not profit margins.
 
GA state sales tax in every store in the state: 6% minimum, some counties higher.

GA State sales tax via Amazon: 4% minimum, some counties higher.

Winner: Amazon, still.
 
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
Honestly, even if Amazon is forced to collect taxes in every state that has sales tax, "brick and mortar" retailers will still find something to whine about.

Most places simply refuse to compete with Amazon on prices and are stuck in a 1990's profit margin mindset...

Just last week I was doing some work on the house and the local big chain home improvement/lumber company didn't have what I needed. They told me they could order it and have it for me next week, and I simply told them "Sorry, but Amazon can have it to me in 2 days (free Prime 2-day shipping, yay!) for half of what you want to charge me.."

Same deal when I went with my mom when she took her car to the mechanic (so she didn't get ripped off... AGAIN...) and they wanted to charge her nearly $100 for a part (PLUS another for labor) you could get on Amazon for $30 (and for a much better brand than the Chinese garbage they use no less.) I told her I'd do the work myself and the mechanic got all pissy... but fuck them.

I try to support local businesses when possible, but frankly if you're business model depends on ripping people off on overinflated profit margins to keep things in the black, you need to go out of business.

It's the 21st century... compete with Amazon on prices AND service or kindly do society a favor and die.
Click to expand...

Amazon's after tax margin is around 1%, compared to around 6.5% in 2004. There isn't a brick and mortar business in America that wants to compete, especially a small business. Their goal in having such ridiculously low margins is to promote market growth. Once they reach their targeted growth prices will rise again.
 
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
I try to support local businesses when possible, but frankly if you're business model depends on ripping people off on overinflated profit margins to keep things in the black, you need to go out of business.

It's the 21st century... compete with Amazon on prices AND service or kindly do society a favor and die.
Click to expand...
So your idea of supporting local businesses is purchasing from them only when they can sell you items at a loss? That's pretty much what they'd have to do to match prices of a giant warehouse distributor like Amazon. That's some fine support.
 
Eat or be eaten. Can't blame Amazon for being greedy, I sure as fuck am. Only the strong will survive.
 
Super-D said:
So your idea of supporting local businesses is purchasing from them only when they can sell you items at a loss? That's pretty much what they'd have to do to match prices of a giant warehouse distributor like Amazon. That's some fine support.
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The problem is that people do not understand how business works in the first place. The average person thinks that businesses just make money out of thin air or something.

Here are some great questions to ask:

Can Amazon diagnose what is wrong with your vehicle so that you can order the correct part and install it yourself?

Is there a definitive market value for knowledge and experience?

What is a fair cost for labor (in other words, if you are willing to fix your car using your time, how much money would it take for you to do that same work for someone else, specifically someone that is not a family member)?

Part of my job is to repair computers. I used to have customers coming in all the time to have me diagnose their problem so that they could then go online and buy the parts to fix it themselves. I tried price-matching online, which resulted in selling equipment at a loss, but I couldn't afford to do it. I had overhead (rent, utilities, insurance) to pay, plus I had debt from my college degree to pay off out of my earnings (the cost of knowledge, so to speak) and I simply did not have the buying power to get deep discounts on the hardware I was installing.

My solution was to start charging a diagnostic fee. If you decided to have me do the work, I deducted the diagnostic fee from the cost of the job. If you decided to fix it yourself, at least I wasn't out money (I had equipment for testing after all) and time spent troubleshooting because you didn't learn how to diagnose computers yourself. It wasn't greed that drove me to charge the diagnostic fee, it was simple business math. I couldn't afford to work all day for nothing and my business couldn't afford to stay open without making money.

I am glad that you consider it getting ripped off to be charged a fee because someone else has the knowledge and experience to diagnose a problem that you are not capable of diagnosing. We don't need customers like you anyway :)
 
Whatever. There's nearly no one in Georgia that even knows what a computer is let alone hot to get online. I had a neighbor once from Georgia who had learning disabilities, could almost not read, and everything was a "done did" or a "dagum." Taxes are hard to collect from people like that.
 
Well isn't this just fan-fucking-tastic?

I guess I'll just have to start ordering stuff from overseas. Most Chinese e-tailors online offer free shipping on nearly everything anyways.
 
All this will do is drive Georgia shoppers who actually shopped on Amazon to avoid paying taxes to use a different e-tailer.
 
Ryokurin said:
Every major company does it, but you are outraged because Apple does it. I bet if you were an Apple shareholder and you found out they were paying more than they have to you would be even more outraged.
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I don't think Apple doing it is the problem... it's more of a matter of preferential treatment.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Whatever. There's nearly no one in Georgia that even knows what a computer is let alone hot to get online. I had a neighbor once from Georgia who had learning disabilities, could almost not read, and everything was a "done did" or a "dagum." Taxes are hard to collect from people like that.
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Umm, what? Yeah, I guess we're all just a bunch of illiterates down here in Georgia.

I'm disappointed to see the tax, but not surprised.
 
Serpent said:
I don't think Apple doing it is the problem... it's more of a matter of preferential treatment.
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I am not what the preferential treatment for Apple is ... the companies creatively minimizing their corporate taxes are following the federal laws passed by Congress and the federal government is the enforcement body ... if people don't like the corporate tax laws they should write their Congressmen ... given the IRS's proclivities they would likely be chasing the corporations for money (if they could)

The states have been trying to collect sales taxes from Amazon and others for a decade ... Apple was already charging state sales taxes as far as I know ... with Amazon giving ground you should see the other internet companies gradually give in since the states know their lawsuits would work to solve this (based on Amazon) ... in a perfect world the consumers would have paid these taxes on their own (as the law requires) but since they didn't then the seller should have to collect the missing taxes ;)
 
madmat said:
GA state sales tax in every store in the state: 6% minimum, some counties higher.

GA State sales tax via Amazon: 4% minimum, some counties higher.

Winner: Amazon, still.
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How much of that Georgia tax comes back to Amazon in roads, utilities, police, etc?

Delivery largely doesn't count because UPS or whoever pays taxes to Georgia for their operations there.

So the State is collecting taxes from Amazon and Amazon doesn't barely get shit out of it unlike there local competitors.
 
MrCaffeineX said:
The problem is that people do not understand how business works in the first place. The average person thinks that businesses just make money out of thin air or something.

Here are some great questions to ask:

Can Amazon diagnose what is wrong with your vehicle so that you can order the correct part and install it yourself?

Is there a definitive market value for knowledge and experience?

What is a fair cost for labor (in other words, if you are willing to fix your car using your time, how much money would it take for you to do that same work for someone else, specifically someone that is not a family member)?

Part of my job is to repair computers. I used to have customers coming in all the time to have me diagnose their problem so that they could then go online and buy the parts to fix it themselves. I tried price-matching online, which resulted in selling equipment at a loss, but I couldn't afford to do it. I had overhead (rent, utilities, insurance) to pay, plus I had debt from my college degree to pay off out of my earnings (the cost of knowledge, so to speak) and I simply did not have the buying power to get deep discounts on the hardware I was installing.

My solution was to start charging a diagnostic fee. If you decided to have me do the work, I deducted the diagnostic fee from the cost of the job. If you decided to fix it yourself, at least I wasn't out money (I had equipment for testing after all) and time spent troubleshooting because you didn't learn how to diagnose computers yourself. It wasn't greed that drove me to charge the diagnostic fee, it was simple business math. I couldn't afford to work all day for nothing and my business couldn't afford to stay open without making money.

I am glad that you consider it getting ripped off to be charged a fee because someone else has the knowledge and experience to diagnose a problem that you are not capable of diagnosing. We don't need customers like you anyway :)
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Actually I'm personally very aware of how businesses make money seeing as I've run my own more than once... I'm just apparently more aware of the modern marketplace than you are, and as a consumer I won't be ripped off, nor will I support businesses that rip people off.

And yes, any mechanic that is putting a 100% profit margin on their parts is ripping people off plain and simple (as is a $100 labor fee for what was, in my example, at most a 20 minute job...)

Make your money on your service, not the parts. This is not the 1990's... consumers now have direct access to virtually any item they want to buy without having to go to specialty retailers and paying a huge markup.

No you shouldn't have to sell things at a loss, and maybe you can't MATCH Amazon's prices as a small business... but you sure as fuck shouldn't be charging any more than necessary over cost on parts when what your selling is a *service.*

Obviously things vary by the business, but auto mechanics in particular are notorious for ripping people off which is why I *DO* do all my own work myself. Aside from the fact that most shops do half assed jobs because they rush through it, an auto mechanic isn't really a profession that that requires some super expensive degree to justify what so many of them charge. Seriously... tech school for an auto cert is pocket change compared to a degree in the sciences or engineering at a real school.
 
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
They have losses at times, but they have such a diverse business model that they always have divisions with huge profits to offset them.

Bottom line is they DO have profit margins and they are growing.

I really don't care how many businesses got of business if they are depending solely on large profit margins for their profitability. As I said, it's the 21st century and those kind of business models are not only determent to society as a whole, but they are archaic and becoming obsolete in the modern world.

You have to compete on service and sales volume these days. Not profit margins.
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The overall company operates at a loss. It's meaningless if certain divisions have profits. The profitable divisions aren't separate companies.

More and more attention is going to be paid to Amazon's "business model" which is classic dot-com bubble nonsense: sell $100 bills for $99.99.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Whatever. There's nearly no one in Georgia that even knows what a computer is let alone hot to get online. I had a neighbor once from Georgia who had learning disabilities, could almost not read, and everything was a "done did" or a "dagum." Taxes are hard to collect from people like that.
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LOL! As a life long Georgia boy, I got all pissed off and had a nice long reply typed out then I remembered your that troll that goes into every thread trying to stir shit up. So nice try, almost had me.
 
I do miss how things were ran when I lived in Hotlanta. Georgia is a mess. No state assisted programs but plenty of dumb ass taxes. Well done.
 
Great....they are going to start taxing here in Virginia on Sept. 1 as well. My wife really wants to move back to Atlanta, so I was thinking of tax-free Amazon as a potential bonus for moving back. So much for that!
 
Godmachine said:
I do miss how things were ran when I lived in Hotlanta. Georgia is a mess. No state assisted programs but plenty of dumb ass taxes. Well done.
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Agreed. I live in Ringgold which is a suburb of Chattanooga, TN since they both sit right on the border. I love Ringgold, my home town, and would live no where else. But I hate Georgia if that makes any sense.

The one good thing they're doing is they did get rid of the "birthday tax" which is 1% of the value of your car added on to the standard $20 tag fee. So if your car is worth $30,000, your tag was $320. Don't know how those bastards slept at night.

The income tax is a bitch but the property taxes are much lower than surrounding states so it almost makes up for it. My taxes are literally half that of my mom's in Texas despite my house being more expensive. Likewise with my friends in Tennessee. Not to mention that income tax seems to keep the sprawl and low life's out. I live in downtown Ringgold and the streets are deserted at 6:30PM yet in 10 minutes or so I can be in the middle of downtown Chattanooga or at Hamilton Place, the largest mall on Tennessee. It's the best of both worlds. Small town living but really close to the big city. If they ever get rid of the state income tax, I'm afraid all that sprawl will spill over into my beloved home town.
 
Fuck you Georgia


I simply won't order from amazon now.

Suck on that your Georgia rednecks
 
jfolds said:
Fuck you Georgia


I simply won't order from amazon now.

Suck on that your Georgia rednecks
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Even if Amazon is still cheaper, even with the sales tax prices ... given that most of us don't have unlimited incomes a good deal is a good deal ... if I order online my concern is with total cost, including shipping and taxes (when applicable) ... if the total price is reasonable and the vendor is reliable why wouldn't you order from Amazon, if they still had the best price ... no need to cut off your nose to spite your face ;)
 
WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot said:
And yes, any mechanic that is putting a 100% profit margin on their parts is ripping people off plain and simple (as is a $100 labor fee for what was, in my example, at most a 20 minute job...)
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amen to this. I refuse to support a "local business" who feels the need to rip me off. Listen we both know that cabin air filter costs you $2.50 and takes 5 minutes to install. You don't need to charge $70 for it. There's no way in hell I would support that.
 
MacLeod said:
LOL! As a life long Georgia boy, I got all pissed off and had a nice long reply typed out then I remembered your that troll that goes into every thread trying to stir shit up. So nice try, almost had me.
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SHHHH!!! You're ruining my clever disguise. :p
 
WTF? How come the Amazon tax on my state is equal to the regular state tax?
 
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