New Sales Tax Rules

[rdenney]

South Dakota had de minimus exemptions (200 sales/$100,000) and provided free software. Other states will need to follow suit to fall within the holding of the case.

The ruling noted that the de minimis exemptions were key to overturning the prior decision, but did not legislate those exemptions, because they have no authority to legislate. States will write laws, and they will all be different, and lawsuits will arise from those laws where there is an argument to be made they are not consistent with this decision.

Rick "and who gets paid for that software, not just to write it but to maintain it?" Denney

[MikeH]

I agree with what Rick has said. To take it a step further, after reading the Opinion, it's very clear to me that the Court, essentially said:
"SD has attempted to simplify collection for out-of-state sellers, therefore this is not an unreasonable restriction on Interstate Commerce [in the 21st Century.]"

This is about as close to writing a law, without writing one, that I've ever seen the Court get. Not to say that this will be easy for small businesses. BUT: the concept inherent in California's philosophy to refuse Other State's Resale Exemptions runs 100% against the philosophy shown in the Court's opinion. It is a clear, unreasonable restriction on Interstate Commerce ... hence, to re-iterate what someone else said, there will be more lawsuits unless Congress steps in.

[consummate_fritterer]

IMO, most small-time sellers will just limit their sales to avoid this mess. It'll be difficult for folks who have a ton of small items they need to get rid of.

[Willie]

Here in North Dakota we just drive a few miles to a town on the Reservation. No sales tax, decent restaurants and Casino.

[Bob Salomon]

Here in North Dakota we just drive a few miles to a town on the Reservation. No sales tax, decent restaurants and Casino.

But then, in many states, you might be liable for use tax on your purchases

[Drew Wiley]

Here people sometimes drive to Oregon to make purchases, but it's rarely worth the expense of getting there just to save on taxes. Big purchases like cars
or boats have to be registered in CA anyway, so no loophole there. Don't want to say to much about the Res system; but it works both ways - if you get
seriously burned, even on a real estate swindle or major water dispute, you can't sue em. Happens all the time. I grew up with Indians so know quite a few
stories first hand. Don't assume those casinos are necessarily run by Indians; they often get burned too. But I better stop there; Rick might be awake.

[Bob Salomon]

Here people sometimes drive to Oregon to make purchases, but it's rarely worth the expense of getting there just to save on taxes. Big purchases like cars
or boats have to be registered in CA anyway, so no loophole there. Don't want to say to much about the Res system; but it works both ways - if you get
seriously burned, even on a real estate swindle or major water dispute, you can't sue em. Happens all the time. I grew up with Indians so know quite a few
stories first hand. Don't assume those casinos are necessarily run by Indians; they often get burned too. But I better stop there; Rick might be awake.

In NJ there was a big law suit involving the Ramapo Indian tribe that wanted to open casinos in the Ramapo mountains in northern NJ. They kept losing in all the courts that they sued in but one of the reasons that they kept losin was that the Indians filing the suits all had names ending in a vowel!

[Drew Wiley]

It's almost impossible to keep gambling and organized crime apart. But I dare not mention any specific names or all hell will break loose. I've seen both sides of the question up close: Indian health clinics getting funded and a few of them pulling out of poverty and violence, yet others left in the cold while gangsters without a drop of Indian blood in them take away hundreds of millions. Some of these operations are as big as anything in Vegas. And like I said, I grew up
with Indians; they were constantly over at our house, I rode the bus to school with them, climbed cliff and waterfalls with them, watched a few of them
become fabulously rich, while most died before they turned 30. But I view gambling as basically parasitic to overall state income, just like cannabis. It's just
a short term sugar high at best, then you have to raise taxes for the social consequences. Getting a bit off-topic; but it's been a big debate even here. The
next municipality just a few blocks away opted for an "Indian"casino with exactly zero Indians involved, but quite a few pimps and loan sharks on premises.
Prior to that it was a bowling alley. Indians never did live there.

[Bob Salomon]

It's almost impossible to keep gambling and organized crime apart. But I dare not mention any specific names or all hell will break loose. I've seen both sides of the question up close: Indian health clinics getting funded and a few of them pulling out of poverty and violence, yet others left in the cold while gangsters without a drop of Indian blood in them take away hundreds of millions. Some of these operations are as big as anything in Vegas. And like I said, I grew up
with Indians; they were constantly over at our house, I rode the bus to school with them, climbed cliff and waterfalls with them, watched a few of them
become fabulously rich, while most died before they turned 30. But I view gambling as basically parasitic to overall state income, just like cannabis. It's just
a short term sugar high at best, then you have to raise taxes for the social consequences. Getting a bit off-topic; but it's been a big debate even here. The
next municipality just a few blocks away opted for an "Indian"casino with exactly zero Indians involved, but quite a few pimps and loan sharks on premises.
Prior to that it was a bowling alley. Indians never did live there.

The Ramapo mountains in NJ were an inaccessible location that deserters from the British and American forces deserted to. They may have intermarried with some of the local Indians but there has always been a question if their decedents have any actual Native American Indian blood!

[Drew Wiley]

Here the bosses determine who belongs to the tribe and who doesn't. You can be born on the Res as a full-blooded Indian but not qualify; or you can be some Atlantic City or NYC or even Pakistan hood and get in on the act. Some of these tribes are fictitious to begin with - complete fabrications set up just
for purpose of gaming. But there are also some very gut wrenching stories. We had a long-time family friend in the position of deciding whether to open up
to gaming or not. He was personally against the whole idea, but was himself poor with a big family and desperately wanted enough income to move off the
reservation before one of them got killed. It was an incredibly violent place. He eventually opted for something relatively small catering to senior citizens
being bused in to gamble. But the very day it opened, Indians themselves were naively losing everything they had to loan sharks. Things are even rougher
here, with three people found face down in the Bay the day after that casino opened. Vietnamese and Cambodian mobsters basically have the run of that place. Someone in the neighborhood who protested it found a stack of dynamite piled against his front door. After incidents like that, Richmond, Berkeley,
and Oakland all turned down local gaming. There are Indians companions from my youth who are doing quite well, but they took the route of higher education and careers well away from the Res. But given the fact that many of the previous generation lived to be well over a hundred, the sudden drop of
average lifespan to under thirty years tells you an awful lot. Even at my tenth high-school reunion, half the class was already dead. So I never went to another one. Too depressing.