 Your
Order and Sales Tax
You will not pay sales taxes
on your purchases if your
order is being shipped outside
the state of Texas. Orders
shipped within Texas pay
8.25% sales tax. International
taxes such as VAT may apply
depending the country of
destination.
Tax and Shipping
Charges on International
Orders
Depending upon your country
of origin, there may be
additional duty or VAT fees
due. The purchaser is responsible
for any fees that may be
incurred. US Post Office
services are used to ship
to APO/FPO addresses.
The Internet Tax
Freedom Act (ITFA)
The ITFA was signed into
law on October 21, 1998,
does not, as some have asserted,
preclude sales & use taxes
on any and all commerce
conducted over the Internet.
State governments are allowed
to impose sales and use
taxes on all such electronic
sales. Currently, most e-commerce
companies use the same taxation
rules used by mail-order
companies, which are based
on constitutional guidelines
for interstate commerce.
Generally this means that
states can only require
companies to collect sales
tax in states where they
have business operations,
and as a result, a company
will not collect sales tax
in states where they have
no business operations.
Supreme Court and
Internet Sales Tax
A Supreme Court decision
in 1992 said that mail-order
merchants, and, by extension,
online retailers, need not
collect taxes on behalf
of their customers' local
jurisdictions unless those
customers were in a state
where the business operated.
However, that may be changing
soon.
The United States Supreme
Court has exempted most
Internet and mail order
firms from collecting state
and local sales taxes, citing
its adverse impact on interstate
commerce. (National Bellas
Hess v. Illinois and Quill
v. North Dakota) The Court
specifically noted that
Congress has the ability
to change that situation.
To date Congress has not
done so. The result is a
public policy with at least
three pernicious impacts.
Internet Commerce
Nuisance
Once thought to
be a monster waiting in
the shadows, poised to bludgeon
online commerce, Internet
sales tax is proving to
be more of a nuisance. Early
this year, a half-dozen
major multichannel retailers,
including Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart
(NYSE: WMT) and Target,
began collecting sales tax
on online purchases. The
transition came quietly,
without much fanfare and,
so far at least, without
much fallout. Meanwhile,
the pure-play giants like
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and
eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) still
not on the sales tax bandwagon.
We as a small retailer are
not either!
So What is My Final
Price?
The prices you see with
our products are the final
prices you will need to
pay. Texas residents pay
8.25% sales tax. With free
shipping over $200, you
have no add-ons - whatsoever!
No surprises, no confusion,
no gimmicks and no hidden
charges. Unlike many internet
businesses, we do not consider
shipping and handling a
money making option. We
consider it as useful service
that we execute efficiently.
Does this Survey
Result Surprise you?
Whatever tax burdens are
placed on online businesses,
consumers are not likely
to notice, said Patti Freeman
Evans, an analyst at Jupiter
Research. She said retailers
like Wal-Mart and Macy's
already collected sales
taxes for online purchases,
since they wanted to offer
services like in-store returns
for their dot-com customers,
and use their stores to
help promote their Web sites.
Just 9 percent of consumers
surveyed by Jupiter said
they would buy less or stop
buying from an online store
if it charged sales tax.
Big businesses capitalize
on what consumers can tolerate
while we want to do what
is right - which is minimize
confusion and make it easier
for consumer to compare
prices without worrying
about various add-ons.
|
Free Shipping over
$200
