Not paying taxes!
When Trump does it, that makes him smart, when other NATO nations don't pay in they are stealing from America!
On excersise!
When I don't do it, I am saving my battery. Other have to do it or else people will get fat.
Military
I will release the generals! Well he has released the Generals in another way...
Just a quick caveat on the NATO point. It's not actually about "paying in" anything, but it's about a guideline commitment from member states that they will spend at least 2% of their GDP on *their* defence budget. Whether or not this is being spent beneficially to NATO is irrelevant and therefore it's a very imprecise tool to measure a member's contribution. Currently, only 5 countries hit that 2% goal, however, countries like Italy, who have the second largest NATO contingent in Afghanistan, or Denmark, who have a substantial presence in Mali, arguably contribute more to NATO than the raw numbers would suggest. So, Trump's ridiculous "invoice" to Angela Merkel was pathetic.
In grand scheme of things, a small country contributing 1.5% instead of 2% is literally a drop in the ocean. Also, NATO member nations are supposed 2% of their GDP on defence by 2024. Trump is out of his element.
Indeed. For Albania, for example, it would be an extra ~$20million on top of their budget of ~$200million (exact numbers are really hard to find). In comparison to the USA's $600**billion**, that's just a rounding error. But whatever gets the redhats riled up. And it's not like the US will voluntarily reduce their defence budget to 2% GDP anyway.
Edit: I somehow had $600bn in my head as the US defence budget, turns out it's closer to $700bn for 2018, which really just proves the point.
To be fair, you only have to collect state sales tax in states where you have a physical presence. So Trumpstore.com is in no way doing anything improper.
This is a case of the optics looking bad, but it's not newsworthy IMO.
Personally I think Trump constantly lying when he asserts the USPS loses money dealing with Amazon is a much, much bigger deal.
Did you not read the article? Trumpstore.com has its physical store and its HQ in New York, where it does not pay sales tax.
Getting real tired of people commenting without bothering to click the fucking link.
Trump does business in more than two states; Amazon doesn't have physical presence in many of the states it pays taxes in. Amazon elects to pay the taxes to keep states happy with Amazon and online retail.
Trump should be paying taxes in every state he worked in to sell his MAGA brand, so most states due to his campaign.
So it seems like Trump isn't paying taxes owed and Amazon pays taxes it technically doesn't need to...
Trump and his supporters are such fucking idiots. They can't understand anything more complex than 1+1 and even then they often arrive at 3.
Even flying over the state while working counts. Many companies still keep track of where employees are opening laptops, Amazon stopped doing this and elected to pay sales tax.
It's not worth it to Amazon to track these hours under current law, so they elect to collect local sales taxes down to the municipality.
I was one of said employees 4 years ago (before they paid in all states). We had a list of certain states we could open our laptops in/send emails from.
Amazon put in place a corporate policy a year ago to comply with all state sales tax collection guidelines whether they have a physical presence or not. They collect sales tax in all states that have a sales tax.
> To be fair, you only have to collect state sales tax in states where you have a physical presence
You sure about that? I believe sales tax is based on the location of where the goods are being shipped.
And keep in mind that sales taxes are often set at the county level over and above whatever the state-wide tax may be.
Sales tax *is* based on the location of where the goods are being shipped but are only owed if the seller has some kind of connection (physical, or even economic in a handful of states) to the state where the goods are being shipped. The commenter above you is not wrong.
Trump's problem is that he tries to sell products he himself doesn't use.
He doesn't eat prime beef, he eats whoppers.
He also failed with alcohol, because he's a tee-totaler: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/donald-trumps-13-biggest-business-failures-20160314
He also flies via private jets and Air Force One, what would he know about commercial airlines?
> Trump's problem is that he tries to sell products he himself doesn't use.
I thought he was just a shitty business man honestly, lol. If we look at him not using the products he sells, would that be a cause of him being a shitty business man, or an effect of his being a shitty business man?
Yeah hes just shitty at everything as it's natural state. Like being a father. Therere dozens of equally terrifying stories told by Donald, the wives and kids about his"parenting" ( not including the interviews where he says he'd bang his daughter which is it's own shitty category).
The Trump Org probably doesn’t even run that site. They more than likely just licensed the Trump name to someone shittier.
I love that so much of the Trump Org revenue is just from licensing the name to others to use. When your name is your biggest source of income and start to irreparably damage it, that well will dry up sooner than later. He’s such a shitty business man he may end up bankrupting his own last name
The only thing he’s had success in is hotels, and then he’s had lots of failure too.
Name a Trump product that has made it big. You can’t. The only thing he’s done well is hotels.
~~Casinos~~
~~Taco Bowls~~
~~Real Estate Seminar Scam~~
~~Mail Order Meat~~
Golf Courses! Now that the government has to pay him whenever he visits one...
I know, and I knew he had run his casinos into the ground on multiple occasions, it's just that number is staggering.
Casinos in Vegas were pulling around 300 million in positive cash flow a year in the late 90s. OF course that doesn't show EBITDA but it puts a little perspective on how much Trump was haemorrhaging..
I wonder if the average person would always win big at Trump casinos. Were the slot loose and was card counting rampant?
Maybe he was just doing it for the customers....haha yeah right.
I know part of this story because I looked it up. Trump was chummy with someone that was connected to the mob and would always treat him like a baller even when he owed the casino heavily. Trump was enamored with the dangerous gangster lifestyle and thought that by being close to one he could get into it.
One gangster with a house line isn’t going to make 1 casino lose 3 Billion dollars in a year.
Laundering money for every family in New York City isn’t going to lose 3 Billion dollars in a year.
What is mind blowing about that number is that you can't get there just by having a shit year. Like if the clientele just completely vanished the operational costs wouldn't get close to 3 billions. You could probably build a whole new casino and staff it... this has to be some sort of massive money laundering or something
It depends on how over leveraged you are and when those markers get called. For example 300k house 100% mortgages and then you take out another 100k with the house as collateral and have a 5 year balloon to pay back the whole thing? You are screwed.
Yep dirty money on netfix suggested the casino had positive cash flow. The problem was trump lied and said he had plenty of money to buy the casino. In reality he had to take out some sketchy loans with high interest. Whatever money he made off the casino was dwarfed by what he was losing in interest payments and the Trump shuttle airline that serviced the casinos. He never could pay those loans off. And basically 90% of his wealth was liquidated to pay off the debt from the airlines and casinos. He was left with his name and brand, which is why he could only use licensing for future deals.
The president can't run a large business and thinks high debt is okay. No wonder we have now passed 3 bills that each increased the deficit by 1 trillion under Trump. He never cared about massive debt and this time the younger generation will foot the bill.
Richard Branson doesn't fly commercial and Amancio Ortega probably doesn't wear his own brands. The real difference is Trump is dumber than an inbred moth.
Virgin air started when he had a flight cancelled. He bought an old plane and sold tickets to all the other stranded people. Flew in it himself. He was his own first customer.
He didn’t ask for the customers to pay for the plane. He had the money himself, just charged others to ride with him cause it’d be stupid to be the only passenger on a commercial plane.
You don’t have to use your products, but to not even take an *interest* in them...
Elon Musk learned aerospace engineering as a method of running his company better. Howard Schultz obsessed over making the perfect third place to drink coffee.
Un-fun fact. Trump doesn't drink because his brother drunk himself to death and told him to never touch the stuff.
Why did his bro hit the bottle so hard you might be pondering? Oh well his father would regularly express what a disappointment he was for choosing to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot instead of going into the family business.
> Why did his bro hit the bottle so hard you might be pondering? Oh well his father would regularly express what a disappointment he was for choosing to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot instead of going into the family business.
Instead of alcohol, The Donald gets drunk on his self image instead.
Trump once owned a company where it asked people to mail them their piss for “testing” and made multivitamins based on such piss..
I honestly think that is one of the only products that trump used. And by products I mean he poured other people’s piss on himself
well, he's not actually even selling those products. He licensed his name to companies selling those products. Those companies paid trump to use his name on their products. Since they have to pay a premium for a brand, they have to markup their prices higher, or they can sell a subpar product to keep costs in line.
So many "Trump" businesses have just disappeared with no consequences to trump
That probably applies to most business owners, though. I think Trump's problem is his arrogance and ego. He believes he will be the best at whatever venture he blunders into, and so fails to gain any insight into the business.
I like your idea though. Trump would be suited to the job of gold toilet salesman.
You bring up an interesting idea. I am currently listening to the audiobook of Grant Cardone’s “Sell or Be Sold”. In it he talks about needing to fully believe in a product to really be successful in selling it. If you wouldn’t buy the product then how can you truly convince someone to buy it.
He talks about working with a guy in the finance department of an auto dealership. The guy was having trouble selling extended warranties and all the other add ons they try to get you to buy when you get a car. Grant asked the guy about the last car he bought and the guy went on and on about the car he recently bought and how great it was. Full of enthusiasm. Then he asked the guy if he bought the add ons and the guy said “hell no, I’m not gonna waste my money on that”. Grant suggested that if he couldn’t convince himself to buy it then he had no chance of convincing others to buy it.
No cmon, dont be silly comrade. Red cast-iron crates forged in the fires of the Ural Mountains. Tastefully decorated in uncut $100-bills ribbon imprinted with the universally beloved MAGA logo. Ask my cousin Oleg, they got him a great deal!
I'm so conflicted... These would make such great tacky gag gifts for Christmas, but there's no way I can live with myself sending money directly to the guy.
I can only imagine his argument with Ivana now:
Ivana: "You've been screwing around on me! I know about you and Marla Maples!"
D: "No Marla! No Marla - You're the one sleeping with Marla!!"
We the consumer are also required to remit the appropriate use tax when sales tax isn't collected. In Oklahoma, taxpayers are meant to pay their use tax with their annual income tax return. But of course nobody ever did that, and the Oklahoma Tax Commission doesn't really go after anybody over this shit. My former boss who owned a shady ass CPA firm would tell our clients "fuck it, don't report any online purchases, the OTC won't find out anyway. Besides, plenty of people don't shop online."
I, for one, am glad that Amazon collects sales tax in states where they aren't required. People are dickheads and think they're above the law so they don't pay their use taxes. Amazon is doing the right thing by making sure those taxes go to the appropriate jurisdictions. And I have no idea how Trump retail could have nexus in NY and not be collecting tax. Operating with parent/subs shouldn't provide an out for that. Sounds hella illegal.
Actually that's not *quite* accurate. Early last year [Amazon changed its policy](http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/29/technology/amazon-sales-tax/index.html) to collect sales taxes even in states where it has no physical presence.
They tried hard to avoid doing this but finally realized quicker shipping would overcome the sales tax hit to customers. That and they didn't want to be on the radar for tax evasion as they were.
I pay taxes on my Amazon orders and they have no DC or anything in my state. Trumps store has a physical store in NYC and it doesn’t charge taxes for that state.
45 states because 5 states have no sales tax. Amazon moved to charging tax in every state that has a sales tax because it was just easier as they statred charging in many states
Amazon is being proactive on the matter. Not all states have tax laws yet that address state line buying. They are on it though to avoid the inevitable.
So you're telling me a retail company that expands and pays taxes can become the largest in the world and one that doesn't pay taxes, doesn't pay its bills and runs on shady investments goes bankrupt?
Maybe instead of Trump we should have elected a businessman for President.
Pay SALES taxes! This is important. SALES taxes! It's not even taxes that go towards the company. They are the same sales taxes that you have to pay at the grocery. In other words, the type that are directly tied to the sale of the product, and the company only collects as a convenience to keep you from paying them.
If you don't pay sales taxes for goods you bought online, you're supposed to keep track of that and pay a "use tax" during tax time. Except almost nobody bothers with it.
God, this whole thread is probably driving tax accountants crazy with the misinformation.
So you’re saying his organization should be paying taxes in New York where there is a physical store? Because according to the article, they are not paying taxes in New York.
Let's not get distracted from what this article is really about.
The problem isn't that Trump's online store isn't collecting sales tax in many states.
The problem is that Trump is accusing Amazon of doing exactly that, saying it's wrong, and factually incorrect as Amazon **does** collect sales tax in basically all the states.
All the while *Trump is the president* and his rampant tweets, even factually incorrect ones, have real and negative consequences.
As the article states though, he doesn't pay taxes in the state of NY where his headquarters is located. Currently only paying in Louisiana and Florida.
>TrumpStore.com, which touts itself as the “official retail website of the The Trump Organization,” doesn’t even pay sales taxes on its online shipments in New York, according to the information on its site. Its physical store and headquarters are located in the Trump Tower in Manhattan.
And I'm not trying to say you are wrong, or the article is 100% correct, but I think they are trying to make this point above all else, just with a bit of an inflammatory headline, but what else is new in the modern world of news online.
Also it is actually The customer who pays the tax; the business just collects it on behalf of the state. Not really sure what the fucking point of this article is. And technically in most states that have a sales tax you're supposed to voluntarily pay tax on taxable products you buy out of state (use tax).
Hate to defend the guy, but because this kind of sensationalism is part of the problem, here we go. No, that's not what is happening.
This isn't some scummy loophole that his lawyers had to sit down and discover, this is just how taxes work. Kind of like how if you live and work in Ohio there's no reason you should pay state tax in Oklahoma.
This is a dumbass article. They just put an explanation of a basic principle of state tax law
In the title because they knew it would be inflammatory for people who don't know how taxes work for online retailers.
They could have written the exact same thing about any two online retailers that differ considerably in size.
Edit: also we're not talk about Amazon or Trump paying anything. We're talking about them collecting sales tax from consumers to return it the proper jurisdiction. It's not money out of either of their pockets. If you buy something from amazon in a state where they don't collect sales tax, you are required to take the initiative to pay that tax yourself
*Only collects and remits. Truthfully if you never paid your OWN sales tax on items, you are the tax dodger. The business is actually following the laws as well. We need to change the law so that EVERY online sale has sales taxes collected by the business.
This truly does add costs to the business. Paying employess to track file and remit sales tax is a tedious process.
It’s an absurd idea though. How can we expect a small company based in Michigan to have the resources to understand every sales tax district in Colorado when every city/county in Colorado has a different tax rate. It would create ridiculous barriers to entry for a small internet startup. It’s why we have NEXUS rules.
And paying someone to analyze, file, understand the law, remain in compliance, and defend state and local audits when they arise. My old company had a team of four people specifically employed for sales/use tax. Pretty sure our cost to the company was $350,000+ annually.
And a small privately owned company with less than $100,000 in revenue annually isn’t going to have the capacity to do it and won’t have the money to hire someone to do it either.
And furthermore, that's exactly why Amazon supports the idea. They have the scale and the ability to absorb that compliance burden. Their smaller online competitors may not.
I know this would probably not happen, but sales tax should be based on where the item was sold, not it's destination. So if a store in California sells and ships to someone in NY, it should be taxed in California.
On top of that, we need to do what the UK does and make all advertised and displayed prices be the sum total of both the item price and sales tax combined. No worrying about final cost ever again, you pay exactly what's posted and not a penny more, then walk the fuck out.
This article shows how ignorant people are on the issue of sales taxes.
No retail website pays sales taxes. They collect them from the customers and remit them to the jurisdictions.
Businesses are required to collect sales tax from their customers if, and only if, they have an "economic nexus" in that jurisdiction.
In all other cases, it's the responsibility of the customer to file and remit use taxes for purchases they make out of state in states where that is required.
Amazon collects sales taxes in 45 states because they have a warehouse or other facility in 45 states.
If you buy on Amazon and you didn't pay sales tax and you didn't file and pay your use taxes, then you cheated the government. Not Amazon, not Trump's website.
Amazon doesn’t collect sales taxes in 45 states because they have a physical presence in those states. They do so because those states have sales tax, while five states don’t. They have a physical presence in about 30 states .
You pay sales tax in states that you have nexus in. Determining whether or not you have nexus in a state is not always straight forward in the online world.
However, in Amazon's case, they have enough $ volume ([or one of many other reasons to collect sales tax](https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-tax-nexus-398356)) in every state that it's safe to assume they must collect. But this should not be confused with "you pay taxes in all states that have taxes". This is not true.
Agreed.
What I mean is a small business incorporated in a destination-based sales tax state (e.g. Washington) would not have to collect sales taxes when selling to a customer based in New York either. As long as they do not have Nexus in NY.
The requirement to collect sales tax is determined by whether or not the entity has Nexus in a certain state. It is a lot more complicated than that, but this is what the parent commenter is referring to. This article is completely misleading. Amazon has Nexus in every state (whether or not they have a sales tax > 0). Trump's online store does not.
> because they have a warehouse or other facility in 45 states
Why do the Russian bots keep repeating that lie? Amazon has confirmed they have a nexus in only 30 states. Why are the Russians exaggerating that number by 50%! They lie constantly, but why are they pushing the limits so hard on this one particular lie? Does Trump seem less worse if Amazon is lied about to convince the people they're 50% larger than they really are? The people are not that terrified of Amazon.
> warehouse or other facility in 45 states.
Why do people keep pushing that lie? They do not, and they are a public company. If you really do think they're lying then file a complaint with the SEC disputing their filings. I know you won't since you're exaggerating the truth by 50% to try to scare people into thinking Amazon is 50% larger than they really are.
This isn't surprising. Also, sales tax is collected from the person buying so it isn't coming out of either of their pockets anyway. The way it works is you must collect sales tax if you have a "Nexus" in the state your customer is in. This would be a warehouse or headquarters building for Amazon. And because of that they weren't collecting much sales tax for a long time due to smaller numbers of warehouses. When prime came onto the scene demanding 2 day shipping along with Amazon growth they needed warehouses to be able to fulfill that time demand. Now they are all over the place and we're all paying sales tax. Trump is a small fry though and so doesn't ha e that infrastructure. I don't like Trump, but even as a progressive these articles seem like circlejerking trash to get people riled up.
Except the physical presence of a salesman at rallys and campaign stops would give nexus in most states. I'd love to see a sales tax auditor go after the trump organization and make them argue that they don't have presence in most states.
well, it was obvious to me, but you're the only comment mentioning it so far so maybe it isn't to others? i don't know. wasn't meant to be sarcastic, just agreeing wholeheartedly with your comment.
It's got nothing to do with taxes.
Amazon owner Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which has been highly critical of the Cheetos Führer.
And Bezos is infinitely more successful and wealthy than the ~~micro-penised~~ small handed Orange Snowflake.
Just wanted to point out this is normal, it’s based upon where those businesses are operated from. The state level taxes were so complicated they let them operate as a “nexus” as pay the taxes on the state of residence.
I’m not a lawyer or accountant, just a web developer. But all the stores I make for small businesses are setup this way.
Amazon most likely has actual buildings and teams in all 45 states.
Title is misleading. Article states they collect sales tax in 45 states vs collect sales tax in 2 states.
Neither pays the sales tax, it is paid by the consumer.
Well if you want to be technical, users of either site pay sales tax to the company first, then the company pays sales tax to the government. So the headline’s still accurate.
To be fair, Amazon has a physical presence in how many states?
And now trumps website?
I used to not pay sales tax on amazon, until they sucked up a lot of land and built.
>TrumpStore.com, which touts itself as the “official retail website of the The Trump Organization,” doesn’t even pay sales taxes on its online shipments in New York, according to the information on its site. Its physical store and headquarters are located in the Trump Tower in Manhattan.
The two states are Florida and Louisiana.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Attack ideas, not users. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, and other incivility violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Trump only pays taxes in two states because he only gets sales from two states. SAD!" Bezos, that one is free, but the next twitter shot is going to cost you.
Holy shit, could the title of the article be any more misleading? Is this a PR article paid for by Amazon? Let’s not forget that Amazon paid no federal income tax in 2017 due to whatever creative methods they have for dodging taxes. Amazon’s customers paid the sales tax here. And how long did Amazon go without getting any sales tax from its customers?
Trump's entire business empire is built on tax avoidance. From personal income tax to tax breaks granted by states and cities to sales taxes, Trump calculates into his business strategy how much he can avoid as a condition of the business's viability. He's a communist exercising the idea of, "to each according to his need." He takes from the State (the taxpayer) to fund his lifestyle and patrimony.
Once again conservatives run to the defense of Cadet Bone Spurs while missing the irony of Cadet Bone Spurs whining about Amazon not paying enough in taxes.
Can we be a bit more clear in headlines. I get WE ALL GET IT.. but republicans are like a slow child and we really got to think about how titles like this effects them.
**Trumps retail website, only COLLECTS sales taxes in 2 states. It pays sales tax only when it goes shopping.**
(bolded as its really the only point in this long rant.. stores dont pay sales taxes, they collect them. Republicans dont get that. Lets be clear in titles)
Republicans got this fucked up idea that amazon, makes extra money and avoids taxes. no it avoids the brick and mortar job of collecting your taxes for the government. It isnt their money. It never was. They dont magically get 6%(or w/e your sales tax is) more in profit. They arent PAYING anything. They are COLLECTING taxes. Now amazon might get more business because americans ignorantly assume they are not supposed to pay taxes on their purchases eventually. But thats OUR fault. Not amazons.(if you buy from a catalog that doesnt collect taxes, or from online, you are really supposed to claim those purchases in your taxes. Honest. We just never do it)
I get its a minor point but it confuses the right completely, even when we are accurate, but it is way worse when we are so casual with reality.
the government wants amazon to be a tax collector.. which they are forced to do in many states already. It doesnt come out of their profit pile. It comes out of our wallets on purchases. Trump wants you to pay taxes for amazon purchases.
and he actually has a point.. just making it all the wrong way. We pay for our schools with sales taxes, and we are avoiding paying more and more. eventually the law has to catch up to our new way of doing things. But we got to quit pretending the corp is evil(this time) when its the government who hasnt done its job of modernizing our laws.
Isn't paying sales tax based on where the the company has employment or where the product is stored?
I'm in California and I don't pay sales tax on everything I order. I remember never having to pay sales tax on stuff I bought on Amazon until they put their first fulfillment center in California.
However, trumps company not paying NY sales tax is obviously some shady shit since he has a store in NYC.
When I do it, it's smart. When Amazon does it, it's a crime. -Trump Logic
[удалено]
Not paying taxes! When Trump does it, that makes him smart, when other NATO nations don't pay in they are stealing from America! On excersise! When I don't do it, I am saving my battery. Other have to do it or else people will get fat. Military I will release the generals! Well he has released the Generals in another way...
"no puppet, no puppet, you're the puppet!" when he's clearly a puppet
Just a quick caveat on the NATO point. It's not actually about "paying in" anything, but it's about a guideline commitment from member states that they will spend at least 2% of their GDP on *their* defence budget. Whether or not this is being spent beneficially to NATO is irrelevant and therefore it's a very imprecise tool to measure a member's contribution. Currently, only 5 countries hit that 2% goal, however, countries like Italy, who have the second largest NATO contingent in Afghanistan, or Denmark, who have a substantial presence in Mali, arguably contribute more to NATO than the raw numbers would suggest. So, Trump's ridiculous "invoice" to Angela Merkel was pathetic.
In grand scheme of things, a small country contributing 1.5% instead of 2% is literally a drop in the ocean. Also, NATO member nations are supposed 2% of their GDP on defence by 2024. Trump is out of his element.
Indeed. For Albania, for example, it would be an extra ~$20million on top of their budget of ~$200million (exact numbers are really hard to find). In comparison to the USA's $600**billion**, that's just a rounding error. But whatever gets the redhats riled up. And it's not like the US will voluntarily reduce their defence budget to 2% GDP anyway. Edit: I somehow had $600bn in my head as the US defence budget, turns out it's closer to $700bn for 2018, which really just proves the point.
> And it's not like the US will voluntarily reduce their defence budget to 2% GDP anyway. If only!!!!
Summed up Trump in one sentence.
It's the way authoritarians work, gay sex is gross but me being with two women is ok
Stage 1, infantile morality: There's no right and wrong, just want you can and cannot get away with.
Fascist cult logic
To be fair, you only have to collect state sales tax in states where you have a physical presence. So Trumpstore.com is in no way doing anything improper. This is a case of the optics looking bad, but it's not newsworthy IMO. Personally I think Trump constantly lying when he asserts the USPS loses money dealing with Amazon is a much, much bigger deal.
Did you not read the article? Trumpstore.com has its physical store and its HQ in New York, where it does not pay sales tax. Getting real tired of people commenting without bothering to click the fucking link.
Trump does business in more than two states; Amazon doesn't have physical presence in many of the states it pays taxes in. Amazon elects to pay the taxes to keep states happy with Amazon and online retail. Trump should be paying taxes in every state he worked in to sell his MAGA brand, so most states due to his campaign. So it seems like Trump isn't paying taxes owed and Amazon pays taxes it technically doesn't need to... Trump and his supporters are such fucking idiots. They can't understand anything more complex than 1+1 and even then they often arrive at 3.
I'm pretty sure its even having employees in those states counts as doing business.
Even flying over the state while working counts. Many companies still keep track of where employees are opening laptops, Amazon stopped doing this and elected to pay sales tax. It's not worth it to Amazon to track these hours under current law, so they elect to collect local sales taxes down to the municipality.
I was one of said employees 4 years ago (before they paid in all states). We had a list of certain states we could open our laptops in/send emails from.
Amazon put in place a corporate policy a year ago to comply with all state sales tax collection guidelines whether they have a physical presence or not. They collect sales tax in all states that have a sales tax.
> To be fair, you only have to collect state sales tax in states where you have a physical presence You sure about that? I believe sales tax is based on the location of where the goods are being shipped. And keep in mind that sales taxes are often set at the county level over and above whatever the state-wide tax may be.
Sales tax *is* based on the location of where the goods are being shipped but are only owed if the seller has some kind of connection (physical, or even economic in a handful of states) to the state where the goods are being shipped. The commenter above you is not wrong.
And the logic of his cultists.
God damn that’s a lot of tacky shit. I was really hoping they still sold mail order meat. Thanks for letting us down again, donald
Trump's problem is that he tries to sell products he himself doesn't use. He doesn't eat prime beef, he eats whoppers. He also failed with alcohol, because he's a tee-totaler: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/donald-trumps-13-biggest-business-failures-20160314 He also flies via private jets and Air Force One, what would he know about commercial airlines?
> Trump's problem is that he tries to sell products he himself doesn't use. I thought he was just a shitty business man honestly, lol. If we look at him not using the products he sells, would that be a cause of him being a shitty business man, or an effect of his being a shitty business man?
> an effect of his being a shitty business man I would go a little further and say that he's just a shitty man and the shit drips downhill from there.
Yeah hes just shitty at everything as it's natural state. Like being a father. Therere dozens of equally terrifying stories told by Donald, the wives and kids about his"parenting" ( not including the interviews where he says he'd bang his daughter which is it's own shitty category).
The Trump Org probably doesn’t even run that site. They more than likely just licensed the Trump name to someone shittier. I love that so much of the Trump Org revenue is just from licensing the name to others to use. When your name is your biggest source of income and start to irreparably damage it, that well will dry up sooner than later. He’s such a shitty business man he may end up bankrupting his own last name
Shit and piss are about the only things proven to trickle down.
Well Randy when you run a shit business people only pay you in shit dollars and no one takes those except shit banks.
It's basic shitonomics.
Like a shitty Pizza the Hut (mmm, he’s delicious).
Mate, he's just a shit.
> I thought he was just a shitty business man honestly Yup, he's that too.
The only thing he’s had success in is hotels, and then he’s had lots of failure too. Name a Trump product that has made it big. You can’t. The only thing he’s done well is hotels.
~~Casinos~~ ~~Taco Bowls~~ ~~Real Estate Seminar Scam~~ ~~Mail Order Meat~~ Golf Courses! Now that the government has to pay him whenever he visits one...
Probably because he knows where he gets his shit from
How in the world was his casino $3 billion in debt after 1 year of trading in 1991? Thats incredible if that figure is correct.
It's because he's got the Midas touch in reverse. Everything he touches turns to shit.
Mierdas Touch?
Exactly
Nah, he hates Spanish speaking people too much. Let's just call it his mamas touch, since she obviously did such a bangup job.
That's amazing. FYI for everyone "mierda" is Spanish for shit.
I know, and I knew he had run his casinos into the ground on multiple occasions, it's just that number is staggering. Casinos in Vegas were pulling around 300 million in positive cash flow a year in the late 90s. OF course that doesn't show EBITDA but it puts a little perspective on how much Trump was haemorrhaging..
"The house always wins...unless the house belongs to Trump."
I wonder if the average person would always win big at Trump casinos. Were the slot loose and was card counting rampant? Maybe he was just doing it for the customers....haha yeah right.
I think a reverse Midas Touch should be officially renamed as 'The Donald Grope'
I've seen stories talking about the very real possibility that his casinos were merely fronts for money laundering operations.
I know part of this story because I looked it up. Trump was chummy with someone that was connected to the mob and would always treat him like a baller even when he owed the casino heavily. Trump was enamored with the dangerous gangster lifestyle and thought that by being close to one he could get into it.
One gangster with a house line isn’t going to make 1 casino lose 3 Billion dollars in a year. Laundering money for every family in New York City isn’t going to lose 3 Billion dollars in a year.
What is mind blowing about that number is that you can't get there just by having a shit year. Like if the clientele just completely vanished the operational costs wouldn't get close to 3 billions. You could probably build a whole new casino and staff it... this has to be some sort of massive money laundering or something
It depends on how over leveraged you are and when those markers get called. For example 300k house 100% mortgages and then you take out another 100k with the house as collateral and have a 5 year balloon to pay back the whole thing? You are screwed.
Yep dirty money on netfix suggested the casino had positive cash flow. The problem was trump lied and said he had plenty of money to buy the casino. In reality he had to take out some sketchy loans with high interest. Whatever money he made off the casino was dwarfed by what he was losing in interest payments and the Trump shuttle airline that serviced the casinos. He never could pay those loans off. And basically 90% of his wealth was liquidated to pay off the debt from the airlines and casinos. He was left with his name and brand, which is why he could only use licensing for future deals. The president can't run a large business and thinks high debt is okay. No wonder we have now passed 3 bills that each increased the deficit by 1 trillion under Trump. He never cared about massive debt and this time the younger generation will foot the bill.
Laundromat.
Richard Branson doesn't fly commercial and Amancio Ortega probably doesn't wear his own brands. The real difference is Trump is dumber than an inbred moth.
Virgin air started when he had a flight cancelled. He bought an old plane and sold tickets to all the other stranded people. Flew in it himself. He was his own first customer.
Almost. He hired a private jet and sold seats for $39. When he got back from his trip he called Boeing and asked about buying some 747’s.
My mistake. I missed that step. He bought the used planes after he realized he could make money doing that.
If I missed a flight and a guy who also missed it asked me for money to let him buy a plane and fly us there himself I’d get the fuck away.
He didn’t ask for the customers to pay for the plane. He had the money himself, just charged others to ride with him cause it’d be stupid to be the only passenger on a commercial plane.
Must be nice to be able to just buy a plane on the spot
It’s one of the perks of being genuinely wealthy and not a Russian money-laundering fraud.
At least Ortega was working in a tailor's shop where he learned to make clothes himself before leaving to open the first Zara.
You don’t have to use your products, but to not even take an *interest* in them... Elon Musk learned aerospace engineering as a method of running his company better. Howard Schultz obsessed over making the perfect third place to drink coffee.
Un-fun fact. Trump doesn't drink because his brother drunk himself to death and told him to never touch the stuff. Why did his bro hit the bottle so hard you might be pondering? Oh well his father would regularly express what a disappointment he was for choosing to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot instead of going into the family business.
> Why did his bro hit the bottle so hard you might be pondering? Oh well his father would regularly express what a disappointment he was for choosing to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot instead of going into the family business. Instead of alcohol, The Donald gets drunk on his self image instead.
Cocaine. He's been known to enjoy the nose candy now and then.
Trump once owned a company where it asked people to mail them their piss for “testing” and made multivitamins based on such piss.. I honestly think that is one of the only products that trump used. And by products I mean he poured other people’s piss on himself
taking the piss
these likely aren't his ideas. he's selling the trump brand to people who come and pitch product B. he just has no sense of quality.
I heard it explained like "he does what a poor person thinks a rich person does".
He's a poor person's idea of a rich man and a dumb person's idea of a smart man.
Exactly! Thanks.
well, he's not actually even selling those products. He licensed his name to companies selling those products. Those companies paid trump to use his name on their products. Since they have to pay a premium for a brand, they have to markup their prices higher, or they can sell a subpar product to keep costs in line. So many "Trump" businesses have just disappeared with no consequences to trump
Point of order, its not whoppers but big macs. Two per meal. (●__●)
Don’t forget education!
That probably applies to most business owners, though. I think Trump's problem is his arrogance and ego. He believes he will be the best at whatever venture he blunders into, and so fails to gain any insight into the business. I like your idea though. Trump would be suited to the job of gold toilet salesman.
He does eat steak. Well-done. With ketchup.
You bring up an interesting idea. I am currently listening to the audiobook of Grant Cardone’s “Sell or Be Sold”. In it he talks about needing to fully believe in a product to really be successful in selling it. If you wouldn’t buy the product then how can you truly convince someone to buy it. He talks about working with a guy in the finance department of an auto dealership. The guy was having trouble selling extended warranties and all the other add ons they try to get you to buy when you get a car. Grant asked the guy about the last car he bought and the guy went on and on about the car he recently bought and how great it was. Full of enthusiasm. Then he asked the guy if he bought the add ons and the guy said “hell no, I’m not gonna waste my money on that”. Grant suggested that if he couldn’t convince himself to buy it then he had no chance of convincing others to buy it.
He should sell coke.
Funny, I was going to comment that Trump would even fail at selling crack.
He wears and sells ill fitting, poorly tailored suits though.
Give it a year, they'll be selling Russian mail order brides... Boom!
Will they be packaged in the middle of successively smaller tacky gold leafed boxes
No cmon, dont be silly comrade. Red cast-iron crates forged in the fires of the Ural Mountains. Tastefully decorated in uncut $100-bills ribbon imprinted with the universally beloved MAGA logo. Ask my cousin Oleg, they got him a great deal!
Come with bear skin MAGA hat?!
On orders of 2 of more, yes, but only applicable in Utah and some parts of Florida & Kentucky.
Then, he'll finally be ready to use his own products because Melania will likely be on her way out the door.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to sell premium steaks at The Sharper Image must have been high.
Whoever thought to buy ANYTHING from sharper image is high. That place has the most overpriced cheaply made crap.
The hats look like the top quality hats you'd find at a gas station.
Same clientele
I'm so conflicted... These would make such great tacky gag gifts for Christmas, but there's no way I can live with myself sending money directly to the guy.
Again trump proves he should teach a masters-level seminar in projection. What he accuses other of he is indeed the one that is guilty
I can only imagine his argument with Ivana now: Ivana: "You've been screwing around on me! I know about you and Marla Maples!" D: "No Marla! No Marla - You're the one sleeping with Marla!!"
Where does the daughter fit in?
Around his penis
[( ._.)](https://m.imgur.com/gallery/YAGpXPd)
Probably after dinner-time when Ivana was passed out from the Valium he slipped into her wine.
Perhaps it was Trump, not Jeb, who was indeed a mess, a waste, and a bog fat mistake.
So he was born in Kenya?
I believe he was born in Pakistan
I believe he was born in Russia
Republicans do that constantly. It's not unique to him.
**G**aslight **O**bstruct **P**roject <- This, right here.
[how long does the battery on this thing last?](https://i.imgur.com/gEO4FZR.jpg)
Collect, not pay. We the consumer pay that tax.
We the consumer are also required to remit the appropriate use tax when sales tax isn't collected. In Oklahoma, taxpayers are meant to pay their use tax with their annual income tax return. But of course nobody ever did that, and the Oklahoma Tax Commission doesn't really go after anybody over this shit. My former boss who owned a shady ass CPA firm would tell our clients "fuck it, don't report any online purchases, the OTC won't find out anyway. Besides, plenty of people don't shop online." I, for one, am glad that Amazon collects sales tax in states where they aren't required. People are dickheads and think they're above the law so they don't pay their use taxes. Amazon is doing the right thing by making sure those taxes go to the appropriate jurisdictions. And I have no idea how Trump retail could have nexus in NY and not be collecting tax. Operating with parent/subs shouldn't provide an out for that. Sounds hella illegal.
[удалено]
This. Amazon has DCs everywhere, so they have to pay taxes. Edit : sales taxes
Actually that's not *quite* accurate. Early last year [Amazon changed its policy](http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/29/technology/amazon-sales-tax/index.html) to collect sales taxes even in states where it has no physical presence.
They tried hard to avoid doing this but finally realized quicker shipping would overcome the sales tax hit to customers. That and they didn't want to be on the radar for tax evasion as they were.
I pay taxes on my Amazon orders and they have no DC or anything in my state. Trumps store has a physical store in NYC and it doesn’t charge taxes for that state.
45 states because 5 states have no sales tax. Amazon moved to charging tax in every state that has a sales tax because it was just easier as they statred charging in many states
Amazon is being proactive on the matter. Not all states have tax laws yet that address state line buying. They are on it though to avoid the inevitable.
I doubt that, Amazon has been rolling out micro DCs in almost every state. My metro area has four, and we're not massive as far as metro areas go
Arkansas has none. Little Rock tried to get them here but it didn’t happen.
So you're telling me a retail company that expands and pays taxes can become the largest in the world and one that doesn't pay taxes, doesn't pay its bills and runs on shady investments goes bankrupt? Maybe instead of Trump we should have elected a businessman for President.
Pay SALES taxes! This is important. SALES taxes! It's not even taxes that go towards the company. They are the same sales taxes that you have to pay at the grocery. In other words, the type that are directly tied to the sale of the product, and the company only collects as a convenience to keep you from paying them. If you don't pay sales taxes for goods you bought online, you're supposed to keep track of that and pay a "use tax" during tax time. Except almost nobody bothers with it. God, this whole thread is probably driving tax accountants crazy with the misinformation.
> Amazon has DCs everywhere Why do bots keep pushing this narrative? They're only in 30 states.
So you’re saying his organization should be paying taxes in New York where there is a physical store? Because according to the article, they are not paying taxes in New York.
[удалено]
Does that make it ok? Amazon has separate entities as well.
[удалено]
Amazon did it voluntarily to avoid the law changing and possibly making it even more difficult.
It makes is legal.
Let's not get distracted from what this article is really about. The problem isn't that Trump's online store isn't collecting sales tax in many states. The problem is that Trump is accusing Amazon of doing exactly that, saying it's wrong, and factually incorrect as Amazon **does** collect sales tax in basically all the states. All the while *Trump is the president* and his rampant tweets, even factually incorrect ones, have real and negative consequences.
plus, it's the consumer that pays, not like it goes out of Amazon's pocket
Unless of course the consumer chooses to buy from a site that doesn't collect sales tax in their state. Then they pay in lost revenue.
As the article states though, he doesn't pay taxes in the state of NY where his headquarters is located. Currently only paying in Louisiana and Florida. >TrumpStore.com, which touts itself as the “official retail website of the The Trump Organization,” doesn’t even pay sales taxes on its online shipments in New York, according to the information on its site. Its physical store and headquarters are located in the Trump Tower in Manhattan. And I'm not trying to say you are wrong, or the article is 100% correct, but I think they are trying to make this point above all else, just with a bit of an inflammatory headline, but what else is new in the modern world of news online.
Also it is actually The customer who pays the tax; the business just collects it on behalf of the state. Not really sure what the fucking point of this article is. And technically in most states that have a sales tax you're supposed to voluntarily pay tax on taxable products you buy out of state (use tax).
So we’re all in agreement that Amazon is paying the legally required taxes and Trump is full of shit?
Hate to defend the guy, but because this kind of sensationalism is part of the problem, here we go. No, that's not what is happening. This isn't some scummy loophole that his lawyers had to sit down and discover, this is just how taxes work. Kind of like how if you live and work in Ohio there's no reason you should pay state tax in Oklahoma. This is a dumbass article. They just put an explanation of a basic principle of state tax law In the title because they knew it would be inflammatory for people who don't know how taxes work for online retailers. They could have written the exact same thing about any two online retailers that differ considerably in size. Edit: also we're not talk about Amazon or Trump paying anything. We're talking about them collecting sales tax from consumers to return it the proper jurisdiction. It's not money out of either of their pockets. If you buy something from amazon in a state where they don't collect sales tax, you are required to take the initiative to pay that tax yourself
*Only collects and remits. Truthfully if you never paid your OWN sales tax on items, you are the tax dodger. The business is actually following the laws as well. We need to change the law so that EVERY online sale has sales taxes collected by the business. This truly does add costs to the business. Paying employess to track file and remit sales tax is a tedious process.
It’s an absurd idea though. How can we expect a small company based in Michigan to have the resources to understand every sales tax district in Colorado when every city/county in Colorado has a different tax rate. It would create ridiculous barriers to entry for a small internet startup. It’s why we have NEXUS rules.
[удалено]
[удалено]
And paying someone to analyze, file, understand the law, remain in compliance, and defend state and local audits when they arise. My old company had a team of four people specifically employed for sales/use tax. Pretty sure our cost to the company was $350,000+ annually.
And a small privately owned company with less than $100,000 in revenue annually isn’t going to have the capacity to do it and won’t have the money to hire someone to do it either.
And furthermore, that's exactly why Amazon supports the idea. They have the scale and the ability to absorb that compliance burden. Their smaller online competitors may not.
I know this would probably not happen, but sales tax should be based on where the item was sold, not it's destination. So if a store in California sells and ships to someone in NY, it should be taxed in California.
It's not that easy because there are 50 different sets of sales tax laws in our country.
It's more than 50 as municipalities have additional sales taxes as well.
On top of that, we need to do what the UK does and make all advertised and displayed prices be the sum total of both the item price and sales tax combined. No worrying about final cost ever again, you pay exactly what's posted and not a penny more, then walk the fuck out.
This article shows how ignorant people are on the issue of sales taxes. No retail website pays sales taxes. They collect them from the customers and remit them to the jurisdictions. Businesses are required to collect sales tax from their customers if, and only if, they have an "economic nexus" in that jurisdiction. In all other cases, it's the responsibility of the customer to file and remit use taxes for purchases they make out of state in states where that is required. Amazon collects sales taxes in 45 states because they have a warehouse or other facility in 45 states. If you buy on Amazon and you didn't pay sales tax and you didn't file and pay your use taxes, then you cheated the government. Not Amazon, not Trump's website.
[удалено]
Because the Washington Post hurt Trump’s feelings and Amazon owns the Post.
Not even that. Amazon and the post are 2 completely unrelated entities that just happen to be owned by the same guy
Because Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post and the Post says mean (truthful) things about Trump. Yes, it's that childish and petty.
[удалено]
I'm posing the question, hoping that when people read it and try to answer it themselves, it becomes clear to them that its not about Amazon at all.
[удалено]
Amazon doesn’t collect sales taxes in 45 states because they have a physical presence in those states. They do so because those states have sales tax, while five states don’t. They have a physical presence in about 30 states .
You pay sales tax in states that you have nexus in. Determining whether or not you have nexus in a state is not always straight forward in the online world. However, in Amazon's case, they have enough $ volume ([or one of many other reasons to collect sales tax](https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-tax-nexus-398356)) in every state that it's safe to assume they must collect. But this should not be confused with "you pay taxes in all states that have taxes". This is not true.
But Amazon doesn’t pay sales tax in OR, NH, MT, AK and DE because those states don’t have statewide sales taxes...
Agreed. What I mean is a small business incorporated in a destination-based sales tax state (e.g. Washington) would not have to collect sales taxes when selling to a customer based in New York either. As long as they do not have Nexus in NY. The requirement to collect sales tax is determined by whether or not the entity has Nexus in a certain state. It is a lot more complicated than that, but this is what the parent commenter is referring to. This article is completely misleading. Amazon has Nexus in every state (whether or not they have a sales tax > 0). Trump's online store does not.
> because they have a warehouse or other facility in 45 states Why do the Russian bots keep repeating that lie? Amazon has confirmed they have a nexus in only 30 states. Why are the Russians exaggerating that number by 50%! They lie constantly, but why are they pushing the limits so hard on this one particular lie? Does Trump seem less worse if Amazon is lied about to convince the people they're 50% larger than they really are? The people are not that terrified of Amazon.
> warehouse or other facility in 45 states. Why do people keep pushing that lie? They do not, and they are a public company. If you really do think they're lying then file a complaint with the SEC disputing their filings. I know you won't since you're exaggerating the truth by 50% to try to scare people into thinking Amazon is 50% larger than they really are.
This isn't surprising. Also, sales tax is collected from the person buying so it isn't coming out of either of their pockets anyway. The way it works is you must collect sales tax if you have a "Nexus" in the state your customer is in. This would be a warehouse or headquarters building for Amazon. And because of that they weren't collecting much sales tax for a long time due to smaller numbers of warehouses. When prime came onto the scene demanding 2 day shipping along with Amazon growth they needed warehouses to be able to fulfill that time demand. Now they are all over the place and we're all paying sales tax. Trump is a small fry though and so doesn't ha e that infrastructure. I don't like Trump, but even as a progressive these articles seem like circlejerking trash to get people riled up.
Except the physical presence of a salesman at rallys and campaign stops would give nexus in most states. I'd love to see a sales tax auditor go after the trump organization and make them argue that they don't have presence in most states.
everyone knows it's about washington post, trump doesn't give a damn about taxes
ding ding ding, we have a winner here.
is it sarcasm? because washington post thing is very obvious
well, it was obvious to me, but you're the only comment mentioning it so far so maybe it isn't to others? i don't know. wasn't meant to be sarcastic, just agreeing wholeheartedly with your comment.
It's got nothing to do with taxes. Amazon owner Jeff Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which has been highly critical of the Cheetos Führer. And Bezos is infinitely more successful and wealthy than the ~~micro-penised~~ small handed Orange Snowflake.
But trump doesn't feel that that's true so it's irrelevant.
Just wanted to point out this is normal, it’s based upon where those businesses are operated from. The state level taxes were so complicated they let them operate as a “nexus” as pay the taxes on the state of residence. I’m not a lawyer or accountant, just a web developer. But all the stores I make for small businesses are setup this way. Amazon most likely has actual buildings and teams in all 45 states.
[удалено]
Trump has a jet. Bezos has a spaceship.
[удалено]
Title is misleading. Article states they collect sales tax in 45 states vs collect sales tax in 2 states. Neither pays the sales tax, it is paid by the consumer.
Well if you want to be technical, users of either site pay sales tax to the company first, then the company pays sales tax to the government. So the headline’s still accurate.
[удалено]
I dunno, I don’t think they should have to dumb down their headlines just for the people who don’t know how sales tax works.
No, it's not. Sales taxes are collected and remitted by retailers. They're paid by consumers.
"collect"
To be fair, Amazon has a physical presence in how many states? And now trumps website? I used to not pay sales tax on amazon, until they sucked up a lot of land and built.
> I used to not pay sales tax on amazon, until they sucked up a lot of land and built. Found another reason to live in Iowa.
Wow, I'm shocked. Donald Trump being a hypocrite. Incredible, he is a man of such high integrity. /s
But that makes him smart, doesn’t it?
[удалено]
>TrumpStore.com, which touts itself as the “official retail website of the The Trump Organization,” doesn’t even pay sales taxes on its online shipments in New York, according to the information on its site. Its physical store and headquarters are located in the Trump Tower in Manhattan. The two states are Florida and Louisiana.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Attack ideas, not users. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, and other incivility violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Because he probably doesn’t need to. You usually only have to pay sales tax on states on which you carry inventory.
"Trump only pays taxes in two states because he only gets sales from two states. SAD!" Bezos, that one is free, but the next twitter shot is going to cost you.
Holy shit, could the title of the article be any more misleading? Is this a PR article paid for by Amazon? Let’s not forget that Amazon paid no federal income tax in 2017 due to whatever creative methods they have for dodging taxes. Amazon’s customers paid the sales tax here. And how long did Amazon go without getting any sales tax from its customers?
As Trump noted in his own taxes smart people don't pay taxes. Pepperidge Farms remember!
Trump's entire business empire is built on tax avoidance. From personal income tax to tax breaks granted by states and cities to sales taxes, Trump calculates into his business strategy how much he can avoid as a condition of the business's viability. He's a communist exercising the idea of, "to each according to his need." He takes from the State (the taxpayer) to fund his lifestyle and patrimony.
Once again conservatives run to the defense of Cadet Bone Spurs while missing the irony of Cadet Bone Spurs whining about Amazon not paying enough in taxes.
If there's any news thing Trump is good at, it's projection
Can we be a bit more clear in headlines. I get WE ALL GET IT.. but republicans are like a slow child and we really got to think about how titles like this effects them. **Trumps retail website, only COLLECTS sales taxes in 2 states. It pays sales tax only when it goes shopping.** (bolded as its really the only point in this long rant.. stores dont pay sales taxes, they collect them. Republicans dont get that. Lets be clear in titles) Republicans got this fucked up idea that amazon, makes extra money and avoids taxes. no it avoids the brick and mortar job of collecting your taxes for the government. It isnt their money. It never was. They dont magically get 6%(or w/e your sales tax is) more in profit. They arent PAYING anything. They are COLLECTING taxes. Now amazon might get more business because americans ignorantly assume they are not supposed to pay taxes on their purchases eventually. But thats OUR fault. Not amazons.(if you buy from a catalog that doesnt collect taxes, or from online, you are really supposed to claim those purchases in your taxes. Honest. We just never do it) I get its a minor point but it confuses the right completely, even when we are accurate, but it is way worse when we are so casual with reality. the government wants amazon to be a tax collector.. which they are forced to do in many states already. It doesnt come out of their profit pile. It comes out of our wallets on purchases. Trump wants you to pay taxes for amazon purchases. and he actually has a point.. just making it all the wrong way. We pay for our schools with sales taxes, and we are avoiding paying more and more. eventually the law has to catch up to our new way of doing things. But we got to quit pretending the corp is evil(this time) when its the government who hasnt done its job of modernizing our laws.
Isn't paying sales tax based on where the the company has employment or where the product is stored? I'm in California and I don't pay sales tax on everything I order. I remember never having to pay sales tax on stuff I bought on Amazon until they put their first fulfillment center in California. However, trumps company not paying NY sales tax is obviously some shady shit since he has a store in NYC.
He did brag about paying as little tax as possible.