So now on top of having a sycophant crony of George headed for the Supreme Court we have a vigilante lawyer acting as tax collector and becoming rich as a result. No wonder the legal profession is so loved.
Online Retailer Skips Sales Tax? You Might Sue – Like many shoppers, attorney Stephen Diamond buys lots of stuff online. But unlike other consumers, he sues retailers that don’t charge him state [Illinois] and local [Chicago] sales taxes — and is making a profit doing it.
Using a state whistle-blower law, Mr. Diamond since 2002 has filed about 95 suits in Cook County court here against retailers that failed to charge him taxes on Internet sales, alleging that they broke the law. In cases where the state of Illinois joins the suits and prevails, he is entitled to up to 25% of the financial damages, with the rest going to state coffers.
Mr. Diamond’s first eight suits were filed against such retailers as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Office Depot Inc. and KB Toys Inc. He has netted about a half-million dollars already, from some retailers.
The local Computer store I frequent pays local property taxes. It also employs several people. The large Internet based stores, TigerDirect, newegg, and Amazon, among others, don’t.
So why should the large on-line retailers not pay sales tax when the local store does? Local state law requires all retailers to charge and emit the tax to the state.
The lawyer in this story does appear to ambulance chasing.
What the?!?! This is an area of law that definitely needs some investigation. Surly, Mr. Diamond is at fault for not paying appropriate import taxes!
In my eyes, by you “virtually” visiting a store, then you should be the one responsible for paying the correct duty. I have purchased a few bits of kit from the US and each time they were delivered to me in the UK, I had to pay the import duty.
Sounds like a loveable, law-abiding guy.
some people would sue their parents if they could make a buck doing so.
Or you could think logically, and realize that the death of a tax is a good thing. Why can’t all lawyers be like Denny Crane?
This isn’t the end of retail. I can’t order a Big Mac on Amazon, and most goods just make more sense to go pick-up (dog food, for example). It is the end of retail that is a waste of space, and one small blow to the big box stores.
Someone needs to kill this lawyer. And since he’s in Chicago, I dobut that someone would be charged with a thing.
First off Mr Drews, what does this story have to do with George Bush or his pick for the supreme court. Yes, the lawyer in this story is as scumy as they come, and it is his like that give the profession a bad name, but please do not mix this up with your hatred for the President!
I don’t hate Bush. I just hate the things he does.
This interstate tax stuff is CRAP!!! Under the US constitution states cannot tax interstate traffic. It’s simply unconstitutional. They get around it by calling it a “use” tax. As if renaming slavery to “Unpaid Happy Fun Work” would suddenly make it okay.
There is a very simple solution to this. Simply make us pay taxes from the state of origin. So, if it’s shipped from California I’d have to pay California’s shipping!
Let’s face it, if I go to California and buy something. I have to pay California’s sales tax and my home state doesn’t get a dime. They can’t stop me at the border and make me pay a use tax.
And if my brother goes to California and buys something for me, I’d still have to pay the California sales tax.
But why is it when FedEx picks it up for me, I don’t have to pay California’s tax?! And even more strangely, I have to pay my own state’s “use” tax?!
Thus the easiest solution is for us to pay sales tax from the state from which it ships. But there is a sneaky and greedy reason why the simplest solution is never even considered: Competition.
With this simple solution states would compete against each other for lower taxes. For example, California could decide to become the “shipping” state and mandate no sales taxes on out of state shipments. All retailers would move their warehouses and some of their jobs there. And all the other states would be forced to compete.
In other words, that’ll never happen. No matter how “free market” politicians pretend to be, it always boils down to screwing over the little guy.
I hate Bush!
Illinois has you fill out on your tax forms all items you bought online so you can pay the appropriate sales tax, particularly computers. Online retailers are only obligated to pay sales tax if they have a presence in the state.
This is BS. Why can’t the business just send a note with every receipt that states they are responsible for the sales tax. Why should the business be burdened by all the states and cities individual and changing tax laws? For that matter, we should probably have a simple flat tax for everything anyway.
A sensible solution might be to have a flat tax collected by each retailer, say 4%. The States could join together into a “collector” group, similar to how lotteries work. The collected tax money would then be distributed according to the amount of merchandise delivered to each State. There would be no need to know who or the address where it was delivered to.
The retailers would only need to remit the amount of tax collected, along with the destination State, to one collector. This saves them the expensive hassle of remitting any taxes to all the States. The collector needs only to know how much of the tax collected belongs to each state. The States would not have to worry about checking up on out-of-state retail purchases or collecting from millions of people. The costs associated with this scheme would be minimal.
To those that oppose the collection of taxes, please go buy an island somewhere and live by yourself. If you care to invite others that do not want to contribute their fair share of the costs of running this country, so be it. America, be a part of it or leave it.
And I don’t like Bush either. Or his cronies. Or those that defend his indefensible actions. And I especially dislike those who hijack American “Patriotism” to their own nefarious, anti-American ideals
Since our tax money goes down a black hole called the Bush admin., we should pay no taxes as a protest. Does anyone want their tax money used in the way this dolt has? By blowing the surplus, he’s destroyed the dollar’s value, increasing the cost of everything, plus has made us more dependent on foriegn oil.
As usual, fake Patriots (read any stupid post by Paul T.) u*****y justification to defend a buffoon “president” that is unpatriotic in his dedication to destroying the Contitution, is a fascist, & is creating more terrorism by blowing up defenseless countries in the name of spreading democracy. People like Paul T. are an embrassment to America & the very people that should enlist & backup the idiotic blather they constantly spew like toxic waste.
They apparently like losing money & having insane people kill people in their name.
Having read the entire story on the Wall Street Journal, I am encouraged that the states themselves have taken action to stop Mr. Diamond from his practice.
Mr. Diamond is an attorney that specializes in class-action suites. So, he knows the law and knows how to apply it to make more money for himself rather than the people he is supposed to be working for. (I know that is a generalization, but in this particular instance, I think it fits.)
Mr. Diamond has used a loophole in the Illinois law that allows a citizen to sue a company for non-paid taxes. Mr. Diamond purchased several low-cost items ($15-$20) from various retailers then sued those same retailers for not paying taxes. Great, he is helping the state collect their fair (I don’t think so, but it is the law) share. But on that $20 purchase, he collected $500K? That is certainly not working in the state’s best interest. I think the state should limit him to the 25% of the tax that he is entitled to…at 8% on $20 that amounts to about 10 cents. Lets see this crook continue to file lawsuits where he can make 10 cents off each one. That would put an end to this crap and free up the legal system to do the state’s real business.
As far as the President goes…come on, people. there is no way to drag him into this whether you like him or not. If you feel the need to bash him, at least bash him on something where he has some semblance of responsibility.