Tag: Senate

Implications Of Passing A Senate Bill Enacting An Online Sales Tax

The Senate Bill Enacting An Online Sales Tax

Congress is currently moving forward with a Senate bill that could place sales taxes on buyers who place orders for items housed out of state. This proposed law applies to e-commerce sites, and the main goal of this online sales tax is to generate revenue for cash-strapped state governments in jurisdictions where online retailers are headquartered. The bill has its opponents among online retail giants such as eBay, and it also has supporters among the President and a number of state government officials.

Oregon - no sales tax
Oregon – no sales tax (Photo credit: Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious)

Only online retailers that gross more than $1 million per year in sales will be subject to this online sales tax. Shoppers at large online retailers such as Amazon will see slightly higher bills for each order they place, and the tax will also apply to brick-and-mortar retailers who sell items online. A few of these vendors include Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and many others.

Proponents of this online sales tax Senate bill argue that it will level the commerce playing field for both physical store locations and online retailers. Some believe that online vendors have had an unfair competitive advantage of being free from such sales taxation until now. According to this viewpoint, having a set of laws that taxes both types of sellers equally is considered a fair rule of doing business in the digital age. Depending on the individual taxes rates in different geographic regions, some states could have an online sales tax of 7% per purchase while others could have one as high as 9%.

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Maryland Senate Votes To Increase Tax Rates For High Income Earners

From Tax Cuts to Tax Increases – Maryland Senate Votes to Tax the Rich More

Maryland residents who earn more than $500,000 annually will have to pay more taxes after the Senate voted to increase tax rates for the rich. Many people see this as class warfare launched by liberals.

The proposal dubbed the “millionaire’s tax” was approved after liberal-leaning Senators refused to approve a smaller tax rate for all taxpayers unless the rich took a special hit.

More than 15,000 households will be affected by the new law. Couples filing jointly will have to pay at least 2,752 dollars more on their income.

The idea is similar to the proposals of President Obama that have pitted him against congressional Republicans in a serious standoff.

Senator Robert A. Zirkin, a democrat from Baltimore County, was against the proposal because it literally discriminated a certain group of people based on their earnings.

At one time Senator David Brinkley offended his colleagues after claiming that Karl Marx would be happy with the move. He apologized later on for the statement.

Senator Paul Pinsky, a Prince George’s County liberal democrat defended the proposal claiming that it is not wrong to ask high income earners to pay higher taxes.

After the Senate approval, the measure will be moved to the House of Delegates which has already indicated that it would like the wealthy in the society to pay more, but does not agree with the mechanism proposed by the Senate.

The Senate is planning to cut spending by nearly 500 million dollars. It has also indicated that it will authorize the state to collect local income tax if the counties do not provide adequate funds for their schools.

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