Op eds

[derien]

eor felt he didn't have the patience to write up a response to this Press Herald opinion piece , so I sort of view the following as a commission, in a way - inspired by his frothing at the mouth, I took some time and tried to put it into words that I hope sound thoughtful and impersonal. And I'm sure they're never going to publish it at the Press Herald, so I might as well post it here. :)

It has been proposed that Maine assess a state sales tax on items bought online, with the argument that this would help the small business owner in Maine to compete against the mega-stores which sell online, such as Amazon.

Brick-and-mortar stores already pay more to get the products into their store than the big online sellers charge the end customer. We've already seen that problem with Walmart, that's why they kill local businesses - Walmart can sell any item at a lower price than it costs a small stores to buy that same item. Cost to the consumer is never again going to be a competing point for any small, local, brick-and-mortar store. A sales tax which the consumer doesn't see until the last moment will not change their mind about buying from an online source.

It's stated in your article, "it turns otherwise honest people into tax cheats if they don't keep track of their online purchases every year and voluntarily pay what they owe to the state at tax time." Maine already has a Use Tax which is assessed on all Mainers to cover anything bought out of state, instituted years ago when it became evident that people were going across the border into New Hampshire because NH had no sales tax. One would have to choose to not pay the Use Tax, and that would flag a return for potential audit.

A Federal law allowing all states to collect on businesses which don't have physical presence in their state will certainly hurt small businesses within Maine who are trying to use the Internet to widen their customer base. Anyone from Maine who exports to another state would need to keep track of at least forty-nine different sales tax laws. Larger businesses will take this difficulty in stride easily, as they already have people who are paid to deal with that sort of thing, but one year of this mess would convince most small business owners that expanding to larger markets is too much trouble. The only people who could make money off this scenario would be companies who write software for doing taxes, who could then sell the special '50 States Tax Codes' packages.

If we want to help our economy we need to encourage our local niche businesses, people who are making specialty items here in Maine such as the hand tools made by Lie-Nielsen in Warren or the pens made by American Heritage, our growers of produce, seed and seedlings. There are an incredible variety of goods which are actually being made here in small shops. If they wish to export their products to other states we should support that, not make doing business more difficult for them.

Comments

[kryptyd]

My best example of a niche type shop was my local homebrew supplier back in Limerick. He ran a "real" shop for years, but also a website from the early days of the net. It was the type of shop that had erratic openings hours, and basically he only opened when he felt like it. These days the business is entirely online (and for a man getting on in years this is probably handier for him), and while it is a shame, and it was always fun to visit and browse in his real shop, the owner is an example of a small buisness who would be hurt if they brought this law in back home.

I always worry about the old nerd shop I used to work in closing from the pressure of the net (what would they all do? where would they GO?), and yet it's still going strong. Goodness knows, all those extremely pricey bits and bobs could be gotten cheaper online. I suppose the adults who use the shop to play their games in appreciate having it, so they buy their stuff there, and the mammies buying presents likewise appreciate having someplace that keeps their boys (mostly, and the odd girl) occupied and off the streets for hours.

I suppose that is the answer. Some shops will close because of the pressure of cheaper online options, and the ones that remain will be the ones that give people something that can't be recreated online. It's very sad to see the local hardware shop (for example) or small bookshops go, but I don't think any regulatory steps are going to halt the decline of the highstreet.

[derien]

Yes, I think if we want them to stay we have to decide to shop in them regardless of the fact that they're more expensive. Really, I love handling hardware before buying it - can you really know if the metal feels right if you just look at a photograph? Not that it's a guarantee of it being good, but you know... it's a psychological thing.

Having a place to go and play games is a great thing, it's worth doing what you can to keep such a place going, even if you have to make it a pay for club or something. I know there's a place like that in the town I went to high school in, and a lot of people feel it does a ton of good for the kids, keeping them off the streets.