New York's Snatch-and-Grab

New York's Snatch-and-Grab

Call it New York's nationwide tax grab. Living up to its distinction as one of the most heavily taxed states in the nation, the Empire State has found a new way to subject its citizens to even more taxes. New York tax officials are looking to fill budget shortfalls by looking beyond state borders. As part of its budget, New York passed a first-of-its kind law that saddles sales tax collection burdens on catalog and online retailers in every state of the country.

As of this month, Assembly Bill 9807 requires out-of-state retailers who sell products to New Yorkers to register as vendors with New York tax officials. Civil and criminal penalties now face retailers who fail to comply. What's more, out-of-state retailers refusing to register have already been threatened with possible auditing and charges for years of back taxes.

The new law zeroes in on out-of-state online retailers who pay a small sales commission to New York-based Web sites hosting online ads. Under AB 9807, a mere Internet ad banner placed on a New York-based site triggers tax collection obligations under the new law.

Needless to say, this new sales tax law has glaring constitutional problems.
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my note::Yet they are giving tax breaks and billions to people like Bruce Ratner..while further burdening middle class tax payers....now they wish to further burden other businesses as well.

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Given the flatly unconstitutionally nature of AB 9807, maybe New York's interstate tax grab might really be a tax smash-and-grab. It may be a long while before Amazon's court case brings New York's new tax on out-of-state online retailers to a grinding halt. But in that window of time, New York could find itself benefiting from ill-gotten gains along with any other states that decide to join it.
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Such calculated legal theft is not beyond the state government or crooks like Bruce Ratner. There are/is probably an army of state lawyers calculating how long they could continue the case in court (one, two, three years?) and how much revenue they could gain in that time.

Given the nature of Bruce Ratner's destructive land grab and looming federal investigations up Yonkers, it could be that our so called elite is simply grabbing as much as they can, as quick as they can before it all comes crashing down...