California Internet Tax | California Email Tax
I normally don’t rant on political topics like this. However, this has could have such a large impact on our industry and our clients. I feel that this needs to be talked about as much as possible.
California Tax
The state of California has been leading the crazy tax rates. This includes high sales tax rates such as 10% in areas of Los Angeles. Some of the tax rates can be seen here.
"Partly this rate compensates for the much reduced property tax revenue brought on by Proposition 13. Sales and use taxes in the state of California are collected by the publicly elected Board of Equalization, whereas income and franchise taxes are collected by the Franchise Tax Board."
Internet Tax | California Internet Tax
Back in 2012 a new law went into effect in California requiring Amazon and other large internet retailers to start charging sales tax. This new law has affected many people both buying and selling online. It was estimated that it would bring the state $80 to $100 million in tax a year. On a national level it is estimated that states are losing $11 billion a year in uncollected sales tax.
Email Tax | California Email Tax
A Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak brought up the idea of taxing emails. Wozniak suggested that the tax collected could be used to offset the post office's budget. The tax that has been suggested would be a bit tax. The scary part is that nothing would stop them from taxing all of the internet. If this tax gets passed everything from Email to videos to simple website data could be taxed. Just think of a small business getting a tax bill for E-Mail and Internet traffic. This could add hundreds of dollars to owning a website and affect web development firms like ours.
Resources:Wikipedia, Board of Equalization, Amazon, Fox News
