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Digital dowloads taxes might be breathing hot and steamy down our necks, but we apparently dodged at least one taxation bullet today: A Ron Jeremy-sized 25 percent tax on adult entertainment in California that would've extended to streamed and downloaded internet porn (you know, if you actually paid for it).
Digital content makes a lot money--over US$130 billion in sales a year--but most of that actually isn't taxed. Yet! Realising they're leaving vast streams of green untapped, states are getting wise--nine this year have considered digital download taxes, and five of those passed them, for a total of 17 states that tax digital purchases. And don't worry, they're totally coming to a state near you, it's only a matter of time.
Just in case you haven't noticed the outrageous charges on your bill every month, Uncle Sam just loves taxing mobile phones and wireless charges. While the average tax rate for most products is 7.07%, on wireless services it's a whopping 15.9% when you combine the local, state and federal taxes. Not cool. Well, some senators are trying to get reelected fighting for the little guy, proposing a five-year ban on more mobile phone taxation.
Amazon has filed suit against the state of New York in response to the law passed last week that requires the company to collect sales tax on purchases made by New Yorkers. They say the law, which demands any web retailer with affiliates in the state to charge sales tax, is vague and unconstitutional. The company also says they've been unfairly targeted since lawmakers dubbed the bill the "Amazon Tax". I hope they're right and the law gets repealed; I'm not spending 8.375% more of my hard-earned money than I should until this is worked out. [NYT]
Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee has resigned today after the US$113 million tax evasion scandal investigated in a special prosecution probe, which has finally led to formal charges, but no arrests. Kun-hee apologised deeply, taking full responsibility. Other members of the board are resigning too. We can only hope that the Samsung product shot ninja bombshells are staying. [AP]
In case living in New York wasn't already expensive enough, state lawmakers passed the "Amazon Tax" bill this week, which will require online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even when they don't have physical operations there.
Sound and Vision has done their homework and finagled five tips that will help you get Uncle Sam to pony up for your home theater gear. Now, I'm no expert on these matters, but the advice seems to be viable—although making it happen is going to require a bit of work on your part.
AU: Not specifically relevant for Australians, but might be worth a read if you can make it work for you.
Showing the House who's in the lower chamber of the bicameral setup, the Senate passed a seven-year extension on the net tax ban, three years longer than the four-year ban that passed the House>. Better deal for us, right? Well,... Read More »
Oh, Canada. You already tax MP3 players and blank CDs. Now you want to tax downloads themselves? The Copyright Board of Canada has given the thumbs-up to a tax of at least 2.1 cents for individual tracks and 1.5 cents per track for whole album purchases from online stores. Even subscription services will have taxes tacked on—5.7 to 6.8 percent of the monthly fee. Better still, the tax would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 1996.
The rationale proffered by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada is that it'll help replenish artists' wallets raided by piracy and that "the right to copy a song from an online store demands the same sort of levy applied to copying a retail CD," according to Electronista. (Our eyes started bleeding halfway through the PDF.) Making legal downloads more expensive probably isn't going to boost sales—pissing people off with more taxes might even drive them right to The Pirate Bay, where artists will get zero compensation.
What would you guys do if your iTunes purchases started being taxed tomorrow? [Electronista]
