South Bay, 99 percent online tax cheats -- best in the state (San Jose: sales, home)

[yeahthatguy]

In South Bay, 99 percent of you are online tax cheats -- best in the state - San Jose Mercury News
Proud to be from Santa Clara

[cb73]

That would imply that everyone has a home computer and everyone orders stuff online. I've talked to people in my office--we use computers all day long--and a surprising number do not have computers at home. A number of those that do only use them for family email, and don't ever order anything online--some are even sure that it's totally unsafe and their identity will be immediately stolen.

At work, I talk to customers, and often refer them to our website to download forms. I still get a lot of people saying they don't have a computer.

An accurate number would be taking all the Californians who routinely order items online from companies outside of California, and then stating how many of those do not claim the Use Tax.

But that would be boring, so I'm sure the newspaper likes their way better.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by yeahthatguy

In South Bay, 99 percent of you are online tax cheats -- best in the state - San Jose Mercury News
Proud to be from Santa Clara

I don't buy that much online because the shipping cost usually offsets whatever I'd pay in sales tax. I don't usually order a large enough dollar amount to make shipping free from sites like Amazon.

[steel7]

The more money you give to the state the more they give to the public unions.

[cb73]

Originally Posted by steel7

The more money you give to the state the more they give to the public unions.

I thought it was the other way around. The public unions take in millions in dues and give a lot of it to the politicians--or to PAC's to defeat whatever they don't like at the polls.

[KC6ZLV]

Very few people would bother to report "use" taxes. However, the study has a flaw in that private information would have to be accessed to come up with accurate statistics.