
Lawyer who argued for Internet sales taxes admits he doesn't pay them - gnicholas
https://medium.com/@nicklum/the-attorney-who-convinced-the-supreme-court-to-allow-internet-sales-taxes-just-admitted-that-hes-a7ef9ce8ae35
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edbaskerville
I see this as a great argument for his side, actually. State governments need
to be able to enforce taxation at the time of the transaction, because it's
going to be impossible to collect otherwise. Without an effective collection
and enforcement mechanism, of course individuals won't go out of their way to
make extra payments! Even the tax lawyer arguing the case isn't going out of
his way to pay!

The question of whether states should be able to charge this tax in the first
place is another conversation. But if you accept that levying these taxes is
the right choice for society, there needs to be a viable collection mechanism.

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gnicholas
Yeah good point, though probably one could make this point by showing
statistics about how much tax is due versus paid. I’m sure the numbers are
stark.

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chrisbennet
While the implementation of the tax may be poor (expecting everyone selling
something on the internet to know the tax for 1000’s of addresses) it
certainly seems fair that the tax should be paid.

As a compromise, if the only the state tax was due, that would be something.

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gnicholas
That does seem like a much fairer compromise. In the law at issue, a business
could be required to charge and remit taxes if they had just 200 transactions
with residents in the state. If this means compliance with dozens or hundreds
of county laws, that could be burdensome.

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gnicholas
Note: I'm the author. I used to be a tax lawyer, before getting into the
startup life. Hopefully this piece appeals to non-lawyers and general-purpose
readers. Would love to hear comments from fellow HNers!

