THANK YOU for posting your comment. It is rare for any state representative or their aides to ever comment on these issues.

I am sympathetic to the states and their financial woos. It is encouraging to see a state that is not attacking affiliates as a way to collect sales and use tax.

I am curious if HB 1443 solves the Federal issue already inherent in tax collection. Are credit card issues regulated by the state of Florida? If not, will you have any more luck getting them to implement your new software than you are having getting online retailers to collect the tax?

I am actually quite intrigued by this legislation as it does seem a fairer way to manage the collection of the sales and use tax. It is easy to see that quite a bit of thought went into drafting this legislation. Also seems to reduce the burden on merchants.

I think this is definitely something that could also be considered as part of a Federal solution.

I will be following up with you, thank you very much for the offer.

In order for $5 billion in sales tax to be generated purchases would have to approach $100 billion annually. Is the $5 billion for online purchases only or for all purchases made by Florida residents?

How will residency be determined? Obviously Florida has many people in residence seasonally who are not legal residents of the state.

I don’t understand the significance of the one penny reduction, would you please explain why you feel this is a feature or incentive of this legislation? How do you intend to reimburse these funds? Will the funds be reimbursed by the state or the credit card company?

I assume that Florida will pay all costs to the credit card companies for this service and hope that neither the residents nor merchants will be liable for those fees. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

I like the idea of the state using the credit card companies as their agents to collect the taxes thereby removing the compliance, collection and disbursement burden from the merchants. It’s a very interesting solution to a problem that other states have addressed less rigorously.

I work for Representative Ambler and would be happy to have the Rep. answer any questions you may have regarding the Representative’s bill. Legally, Florida residents who make purchases from out-of-state online retailers and portals are supposed pay taxes for online purchases if the business does not collect it at the point of sale. What Rep. Ambler’s bill does, however, is propose a way to enforce something which was previously very difficult to enforce. Enforcing laws currently on the books is way to make up for some of the state’s projected $3.2 billion budget shortfall for 2010-11 without further raising taxes. Some analysts estimate that Florida loses as much as $2 billion every year on such Internet purchases from out-of-state retailers who don’t collect and remit the tax. When you make an Internet purchase, the company that processes your credit card transaction would automatically calculate and charge sales tax using software developed by a company hired by the state. The state would recoup the cost of the contracts through the tax collections they yield, with specific costs being determined during the contracting process. In addition to recouping sales tax revenues, Florida will be able to license the unique software to other states, thereby creating a second stream of income. Once the resulting collections from Internet sales reach $5 billion, the state will reduce its sales tax rate by one penny. The state will still be $1 billion or more ahead in tax collections, despite the rollback. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email me at at kevinambler dot com

“That’s almost a 20 percent sales tax reduction,” he said.

It is an interesting approach, certainly removes one “burden” aspect of collecting but I think it adds another. I have to read through it all again, there’s still some unanswered questions on the details of how it would work.

I emailed a couple of connections in Florida, hoping to get a feel for where legislators stand.

I’m not clear exactly (imagine that with such convoluted legislation!) on what these bills are exactly proposing:
a) Sales tax collection (as is already happening) would shift from merchants collecting to credit card companies collecting or
b) Sales tax would start being collected for all sales to residents in the state of FL, regardless of whether or not the merchant had an established nexus in FL
c) both of the above
d) none of the above

Is this for internet sales only and not brick-and-mortar stores? What happens if you pay in cash? LOL. Via Paypal?

I can just imagine the fees credit card companies will pass on to their merchants if they have to become tax collectors. They hit merchants hard as it is. Of course, the merchant then passes it on to consumers who are now paying more at the merchant & increase sales tax.

And I can just imagine what files sales tax returns will look like in FL..with multiple collection sources for each merchant (merchant and credit card).

I’ll stop now…what a mucked up idea. I’m beginning to think politicans have gone completely bonkers! Such convoluted legislation coming out in attempt to bypass Supreme Court rulings. A shame.