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To: H James Morris who wrote (124958)	5/13/2001 2:57:44 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Glenn, interesting we should talk about the sales tax issue again last night, then I came across this article this morning in my local paper. It appears only residents of Massachusetts need to pay a sales tax if they order from Gateway.com The excuse given for not charging sales tax due to so many variations in states is a a line in my opinion. I am not advocating we should pay sales tax since I buy enough on-line to save a lot on sales tax. Just do not tell the PA Department of Revenue. They are out to get me;-) I believe collecting taxes for on-line sales in the various states need not have the status as sales done in the brick and mortar stores. They sure do not now since they are not collected at all. There are only 50 states and so a simplified across the board tax rate for each state for on-line sales can be legislated and easily implimented. In PA, there are extra taxes for Allegheny and (I can't recall the name) but whatever county Philadelphia is in. The tax rate here is 6% so why not have all on-line sales in PA have the vendor collect an across the board 6%. There are items in this state that are not taxible. Clothing in particulalr. So you make it taxable for on-line sales. You want to average, make it acrss the board 5%. Each state may set their own and then the vendor (on-line seller) charges tax accordingly. It is a 50 record database to look up. No big deal. Here is an example of how rediculous this has become. Dell computer is aware that many businesses are audited for tax collection. So, if one buys a Dell computer for their business using Dell's business center for a purchase in PA, Dell chagres the 6% sales tax and I assume forwards it on to the state at the appropriate time. If one buys the same computer from Dell but from their personal department, there is no sales tax collected. I am not picking on Dell but kind of rediculous in my opinion.