[speaker001:] So, let's talk about the, uh, wonderful abuses in the State of Pennsylvania of personal property taxes whereby you can purchase something mail order and after the fact, the State of Pennsylvania can find out about it and send you a bill for the sales tax appropriate to that item that you purchased as well as interest and penalties [inhaling] from the time that you bought it. What do you think? Is Pennsylvania kind of out of line there?
[speaker002:] Well, actually, I don't think they're out of line. De-, Devil's advocate possibly, but [rustling] [inhaling] it, you are trying to avoid paying taxes and whe-, whether or not you agree with that law, i-, you're still circumventing it. You are legal in, in your circumvention of that law.
[speaker001:] What, what if you're not doing it in order to circumvent the law though? I mean what if you don't even realize that you're subject to paying, uh, income tax on something that you purchase mail order?
[speaker002:] Really, I, I, I don't think that's a valid argument. I think that most people are quite aware they're not paying that six percent sales tax. Um, s-, s-, naturally some, some things you just can't find in your local K-Mart or, or, uh, Bryn Mawr stereo dealer. Uh, but th-, th-, th-, then why not pay, pay the sales tax. Corporations have to, why should an individual just because it's, just because the state can't really find out about it, be able to avoid paying sales tax?
[speaker001:] Well, I mean, it seems to me that, generally, at least in my own experience, when I purchase something mail order, it's not to circumvent paying sales tax to the State of Pennsylvania. It's because, I'm sorry, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] Uh, it's because I, I can't find the item that I want at a competitive price anywhere in my local area. So I go outside the area for that. And I think that it's not my responsibility to police myself and pay Pennsylvania what they believe they are owed even though, you know, the revenue stream went to another state. I don't, I don't think that that's my responsibility as a, as a conscientious consumer.
[speaker002:] [Lipsmack] I, I'll agree it, it's not your responsibility but, b-, is it also legal,
[speaker001:] [Rustling] [static].
[speaker002:] for you to do that? W-, w-, fr-, from what I understand from v-, v-, various net readings, i-, i-, it, the Federal government is going to try to legislate a more aggressive enforcement of state tax schemes, uh, in, into place in the next few years. It is, it is a lost revenue stream right now and states c-, can use all the revenue they can get. With some, with something like that, d-, do your arguments still apply?
[speaker001:] Well, I think that if, if policy is established and if a mechanism is put into place to promote the collection of taxes in this fashion, then I don't argue with it. Because it's not a burden on the consumer to remember that oh, I bought this out of state. I need [sigh] to Xerox the receipt and make out a check for six percent and send it to Pennsylvania.
[speaker002:] Which is exactly what businesses do at the present.
[speaker001:] Right. But the point is is that businesses do that. The business that you purchase the thing from is responsible for collecting the appropriate sales tax and forwarding it to the state in question. That's a cost of doing business. The burden
[speaker002:] And I, I
[speaker001:] shouldn't be placed on the consumer.
[speaker002:] I was actually talking about businesses purchasing something mail order and then having, having to pay sales tax on it.
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] That's my understanding of the way, uh, the way it works. Usually, the, the person ordering doesn't pay. But the accounting department will, uh, suck up all the bills at the end of the month and realize how much they have to pay. And there r-, there are s-, some substantial, nasty penalties, um, if you, if businesses try to avoid that.
[speaker001:] Uh, do you mean businesses from the point of view as, of, of selling things to a consumer and
[speaker002:] I-,.
[speaker001:] then being responsible for the sales tax?
[speaker002:] No. Businesses, uh
[speaker001:] Or purchasing.
[speaker002:] if purchasing things mail order, if, if I'm a computer consulting firm and I see these, this great deal on forty-six mother boards, uh, from, from say Utah. Um, I, I might buy the mother boards from Utah but then still have to pay Pennsylvania sales tax. My a-, accounting department will at the end of the month. I think that i-, i-, I think that's the way things work in Pennsylvania. And I know they work that way in, uh, say here in D C.
[speaker001:] Yeah. See I'm unfamiliar with that because I don't, I never see that end of the business.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So, my only experience has been from the point of view of a consumer. Uh, but, if that's the case, if the business is responsible for policing themselves, then I think some well defined mechanisms need to be in place so that, uh, the opportunity f-, to forget that you owe sales tax for something, uh, can be avoided.
[speaker002:] That's true. I-, i-, a r-, a big hole does exist right now, uh, in that consumers can just say oh, I, I forgot that. There, there is no well defined mechanism at all and, and that it is a [inhaling] a l-, loss. I, I think is that the Federal government will try to establish a mechanism ju-, just to do just that in or-, in order to gain the revenue that's being lost. Uh, I mean, I, I don't know if I agree with that. But it, but,
[speaker001:] [Rustling] [static].