[at-l] Pack buying - Some Food For Thought re Your Local OutdoorShop and Use Tax Laws

[yumitori@montana.com (Ron Martino)]

> One other legal thing that very few people really know:  Every state
> that collects sales tax on locall purchased merchandise also has a
> parallel tax, called the use tax.  What the use tax law says is that if
> you buy a $300.00 pack mail order from out of state, and the mail order
> merchant does not collect SALES tax on your purchase, and you then take
> delivery and "use" the pack in your home state [legally, "use" of the
> pack includes storing it in your attic - even if only for a week, or
> using it for a shakedown hike, etc. before hitting the Trail], then you
> are required to voluntarily file a use tax form and pay the same amount
> of use tax to your home state as you would have had to pay in sales tax
> if you bought the item locally.

	You have /got/ to be kidding.

> There are court cases that have prohibited states from forcing all out
> of state merchants to collect sales tax on every mail order transaction
> based on commerce clause concerns, etc.  However, every state's use tax
> remains fully constitutional and in effect, for it only applies to
> citizens of that state who use non-sales-tax-paid items inside the
> state's boundaries . . . so, I reckon we are all criminals yet again! :)

> thru-thinker

	Hey, hey, hey! I have paid every cent of use tax required. Heck, I may
start refusing to pay sales tax in other states, and just assure them
I'll be filing the appropriate use tax when I get home...

	Ron (go ahead, look up what Montana's sales tax percentage is...)
--

It is our attitude toward free thought and free expression that will
determine our fate. There must be no limit on the range of temperate
discussion, no limits on thought. No subject must be taboo. No censor
must preside at our assemblies.
	William O. Douglas

yumitori(AT)montana(DOT)com