Don't Mess With Taxes

Amazon will begin collecting sales taxes on California purchases Saturday, Sept. 15. In advance of the deadline, online customers and tax offices are stocking up.

But they're shopping for different things.

Online shoppers are looking to pick up products before the 7.25 percent state sales tax (plus up to 2 percent more depending on the buyer's location) is added to Golden State cyber purchases.

State tax officials, meanwhile, are looking to hire nearly 100 new state auditors, lawyers and other specialists to ensure everyone complies with the new online tax.

The state Board of Equalization expects to spend $10 million over the next three years on new online sales tax enforcement employees.

But that cost will be quickly covered, say state officials, thanks to the $300 million a year in sales tax that the online effort is expected to bring into the state treasury.

More than just Amazon affected: While the new tax law is referred to as the Amazon tax and around $85 million a year in tax revenue is expected to come from the online retail giant, it will apply to many more companies.

The law applies to out-of-state retailers that have sold more than $1 million to Californians in the past year and have had more than $10,000 in sales referred by an in-state affiliate.

Of course, California already has a use tax. This is the equivalent of the state's sales tax and is due on items Californians buy elsewhere but use in the state.

But on the Left Coast as elsewhere, the use tax is hard to enforce and effectively useless.

Come Saturday, Sept. 15, that's no longer a problem for California sales tax collectors.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Amazon sales tax collection begins in Pennsylvania
• Amazon starts collecting Texas sales tax on July 1
• Cyber Monday 2011 is still tax-free...for now