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Letters
Sales tax should apply to Internet businesses, as well
Sometimes I wonder about our politicians. I heard today that several, including California Gov. Gray Davis, were in the White House debating Internet sales taxes with our president. Is this a serious question, really?
How are all the retailers supposed to stay in business and pay their overhead when the online sellers have this 6 to 8 1/2 percent competitive advantage? Do these politicians think, ever? Let's keep all the ecommerce businesses healthy, while we retailers who occupy all this space in all the stores and malls service ever-decreasing numbers of customers.
Half of us now are in business to service merchandise the customers bought online and cannot operate or assemble, or perhaps they broke it 20 minutes out of the box.
And, just who do you suppose they scream at when they find out they need to pay to have it fixed, or that we will not exchange it? And just who is going to pay the people to service these reluctant and unprofitable customers? I have even had people tell me they bought it in my store, until I prove that I do not sell that which they brought in for repair or exchange.
Hey folks, this is a slam dunk. If you do not ultimately collect sales taxes, you are going to have to plow under one third of the shopping malls in this country and find work for several hundred thousand people who earn their living serving the retail trade.
I cannot believe there is even a discussion about this. Also, unless I am mistaken, most states that have sales taxes have the enabling legislation drafted as sales and use tax.
Apparently, the investment community is not the only sector of this nation suffering brain cramps about the Internet, and ecommerce.
I am not aware of any item on any agenda anywhere that is more foolish. You cannot continue to provide this level of competitive advantage to one class of business and expect the other class to survive intact.
Alan Caras
Los Gatos
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
