[at-l] Taxing Food For Thought . . .

[jbryankramer@msn.com (J Bryan Kramer)]

That tax break only partially compensates for the shipping costs generally,
so I don't think its that big a deal. If that was the only advantage
internet store fronts had then they would never get off the ground. But they
usually have other advantages, first they carry or at least can ship a
vastly greater range of products than your average local shop, I don't think
Joe's Hike Shop is going to compete with Campmor on product selection. They
probably have breaks in insurance and maybe local taxes ( since they can
pick their physical location, South Dakota frex). They probably have more
size selections, its rough finding the right item but not finding your size.
And they may have more knowledgable employees to advise you during the
ordering process. And they can have great sales and get the word out about
the good prices, I assume manufacturers are more likely to fund a REI sale
since REI might sell 1000 of their items.

So it isn't just price.

Bryan

"Si vis pacem para bellum"

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> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Ain't tax law great?  I didn't say I liked it, but I sure think if the
> darn laws are gonna be out there that they ought to be applied and
> enforced fairly - and it just plain ain't fair to have local outdoor
> shops penalized because the out of state merchant can flood a local
> market with catalogs and internet web sites, and have an inherent 4-9%
> price advantage simply because they do not have to collect the sales
> tax, and the customer is certainly not gonna volunteer to pay the use
> tax when their box arrives from the UPS man . . . taxes suck, but
> unevenly applied and enforced taxes suck a whole lot more!