Who else got the e-mail from eBay about the government trying to tax internet purchases? I didn't read through the whole thing, but it seems like something I don't want. I love buying online and saving tax!

Anyone know much about this?

I don't know about you all...but if I sell to someone here in Washington State online, I pay sales tax to the state. 4 times a year they get a nice check from ol' Sarah.

i looked into this a while back when i worked sporting goods retail & some people wanted to buy some stuff online

the rule is actually quite simple: if you are a business & someone buys a product from you, there IS sales tax if they are in the same state as your business & this includes any other franchise iterations (if there is a franchise under same corp umbrella in the buyer's state, there IS sales tax, even if your location doing the selling is not in that state)

if the buyer is not in the same state as the selling business & there are no associated franchise locations/etc. in the buyer's state, then there is NO sales tax for the internet sale

no sales tax if selling to buyer outside USA

looks like it's even more liberal - what I posted above applies ONLY if the seller has a retail (physical) sales location:

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/87F6DD43-E6F2-4DFE-BCDB8E2E85DFF80B/111/277/167/ART/

"if an online retailer has a physical presence in a particular state, such as a store, business office, or warehouse, it must collect sales tax from customers in that state. If a business does not have a physical presence in a state, it is not required to collect sales tax for sales into that state. This rule is derived from a 1992 Supreme Court decision which held that mail-order merchants did not need to collect sales taxes for sales into states where they did not have a physical presence."

Is there a difference between selling new items and used items for charging a sales tax to someone in the same state?

Well...to get ya REALLY confused, here in Wa state we are SUPPOSED to pay "Use Tax" on anything we buy out of state for use in personal or business use. This includes new and used.

Now you have to ask - just HOW many citizens of WA even know that one?

As for sales tax, well....a business has to collect it on both used and new items (ie...a used book store selling online in state would have to).

Yes, it causes head banging sessions.