美国国家公共电台 NPR Massachusetts Tries Something New To Claim Taxes From Online Sales

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Each year, states lose many millions of dollars in uncollected taxes from e-commerce sales, so a lot of states have begun crafting their own rules to get some of that tax money back. Massachusetts is just the latest state to do this. But the way it's doing it is unprecedented¹. From WBUR in Boston, Asma Khalid reports.

ASMA KHALID, BYLINE²: Michelle O'Brien is a 44-year-old internet shopping fanatic³.

MICHELLE O'BRIEN: I buy all my pet food and pet supplies online. I buy most of my laundry detergent⁴, shampoos and almost everything really besides groceries.

KHALID: O'brien, like a lot of Americans, started shopping online more in the last couple of years.

O'BRIEN: You don't even have to be, you know, on your laptop. You can be pretty much anywhere and just open an app and order some things.

KHALID: Thanks to people like O'Brien, online sales are growing by about 15 percent each year. The thing is, all those online sales don't necessarily bring in tax dollars. Amazon started collecting sales tax nationwide this past April, but most online retailers⁵ still don't. They only collect sales tax from customers where they have a physical presence. Richard Jones, a tax attorney with the firm Sullivan and Worcester, explains.

RICHARD JONES: It usually means when there's a warehouse⁶, an office, an employee located in those states. It doesn't have to be much, but it has to be something, something real, something physical.

KHALID: Technically⁷ when you shop online, you're still supposed to pay up when you file your annual taxes. But in reality, most people don't, and there's nobody actively⁸ enforcing the rules. That means there's a lot of potential money being left on the table. Massachusetts is fighting to recover some of it. Back in 1992, the Supreme⁹ Court ruled that retailers must have a physical presence in a state to collect taxes. Now Massachusetts is adopting a hyper-literal definition of physical presence. Here's tax attorney Jones again.

JONES: Massachusetts is arguing that these vendors¹¹ with no property and no people and no offices in the state - they still have physical presence because of internet cookies.

KHALID: OK, so quick recap if you missed that - the state is saying that cookies, little bits of data from a website stored locally on your computer or a shopping app that you download to your phone, create a physical, in-state operation for a company. Essentially¹² it's an internet answer to an internet problem. But Jones says it raises a lot of questions about how you define property.

JONES: Who's the owner? There's a presumption¹³ that the internet vendor¹⁰ retains ownership of that little, tiny bit of advertising¹⁴ software tracking code. I'm not sure if that's right.

KHALID: But whether or not it's right doesn't matter to a lot of brick-and-mortar stores. They're just happy something is finally being done. They claim the current tax system hurts their business.

BILL RENNIE: You know, for years, retailers here and across the country have argued for a level playing field.

KHALID: That's Bill Rennie. He's with the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.

RENNIE: It's become much more important each year now with the growth of mobile commerce. Folks can shop and comparison shop and purchase anywhere they want from their smartphone.

KHALID: And so to some folks, this Massachusetts tax theory seems like sheer genius. But to others, it is a shameless tax grab. Steve DelBianco is on the shameless side. He leads NetChoice, a national trade association representing e-commerce sites. He says under this strange Massachusetts theory...

STEVE DELBIANCO: Your business is subject to the taxation¹⁵, regulation in any state where a user simply enters their website address. That can't hold up to legal scrutiny¹⁶ because it certainly doesn't hold up to common sense.

KHALID: DelBianco is not convinced a cookie on your computer is the same thing as a storefront in a strip mall, and he's willing to take that argument to court. He says his group is getting ready for a lawsuit¹⁷. For NPR News, I'm Asma Khalid in Boston.

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 fanatic   

n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a football fanatic.亚历山大是个足球迷。
• I am not a religious fanatic but I am a Christian.我不是宗教狂热分子，但我是基督徒。

4 detergent   

n.洗涤剂；adj.有洗净力的

参考例句：

• He recommended a new detergent to me.他向我推荐一种新的洗涤剂。
• This detergent can remove stubborn stains.这种去污剂能去除难洗的污渍。

5 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

6 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

7 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

10 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

11 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

13 presumption   

n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定

参考例句：

• Please pardon my presumption in writing to you.请原谅我很冒昧地写信给你。
• I don't think that's a false presumption.我认为那并不是错误的推测。

14 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

15 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

16 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

17 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。