Page 21 - ARUBA BANK

BUSINESS Tuesday 27 November 2018
A25

Lump of coal? Taxes more likely for online gifts this season

By JESSICA GRESKO Overstock's board of direc-
Associated Press tors, said a small number
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shop- of customers reached out
pers heading online to pur- to ask about the change
chase holiday gifts will find when it happened but the
they're being charged company now hasn't had a
sales tax at some websites question about it in months.
where they weren't before. Wayfair, for its part, was
The reason: the Supreme collecting sales tax in 25
Court. states before the decision.
A June ruling gave states Now it's collecting sales tax
the go-ahead to require in 36 of the 45 states with a
more companies to collect sales tax.
sales tax on online purchas- Where online shoppers live
es. Now, more than two also can affect whether
dozen have moved to take they're being charged
advantage of the ruling, sales tax.
many ahead of the busy States had a strong interest
holiday shopping season. in taking advantage of the
"Will your shopping bill Supreme Court's decision
look any different? ... The by passing laws or publish-
answer right now is it de- ing regulations prior to this
pends," said Jason Brewer, holiday shopping season
a spokesman for the Retail if at all possible, said Rich-
Industry Leaders Associa- ard Cram of the Multistate
tion, which represents more Tax Commission, which
than 70 major retailers. In this April 13, 2018, file photo, packages from Internet retailers are delivered with the U.S. Mail works with states on tax is-
Whether shoppers get in a apartment building mail room in Washington. sues. Those that did have
charged sales tax on their Associated Press generally been following
online purchases comes tailers such as Apple, Best sales tax if they're doing a of businesses from jewelry the lead of South Dakota,
down to where they live Buy, Macy's and Target, fair amount of business in website Blue Nile to cloth- which brought the issue to
and where they're shop- which have brick-and-mor- the state. That means re- ing and outdoor company the Supreme Court. South
ping. tar stores nationwide, were tailers such as Overstock. L.L. Bean and electronics Dakota requires sellers
Before the Supreme Court's generally collecting sales com, home goods compa- retailer B&H Photo-Video who don't have a physical
recent decision , the rule tax from online customers. ny Wayfair and electron- are also affected. presence in the state to
was that businesses selling But that wasn't the case for ics retailer Newegg can Before the Supreme Court's collect sales tax on online
online had to collect sales businesses with a big online be required to collect tax decision, Overstock was purchases if they do more
tax only in states where they presence but few physical in more states. Those com- collecting sales tax in eight than $100,000 in business in
had stores, warehouses or locations. panies were involved in the states. Now, it's collecting South Dakota or more than
another physical presence. Now, states can force out- case before the Supreme sales tax nationwide. Jona- 200 transactions annually
That meant that major re- of-state sellers to collect Court, but a wide range than Johnson, a member of with state residents.q

European banking chief: euro needs a central budget

By DAVID McHUGH by governments. He cited ger have their own curren- that the idea of a cen- combination of vision and
Associated Press the example of the United cy. The union means there tral budget had gained realism" in addressing the
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) States, where spending by is one currency and cen- support. He called for "a currency's shortcomings.q
— The head of the Europe- the federal government tral bank — but 19 different
an Central Bank is renewing continues uninterrupted governments with respon-
his pleas to fix flaws in the when trouble hits an indi- sibility for economic policy
19-country euro currency, vidual state. and spending.
urging European leaders The 19-country eurozone, Draghi said that proposals
to adopt a central spend- which marks the 20th an- by the European Commis-
ing pot to buffer individual niversary of the shared cur- sion for an EU fund to sup-
governments against finan- rency at year end, survived port investment spending,
cial crises. a debt and economic crisis and by the French and
Mario Draghi said Monday in 2010-2012. That experi- German governments for
in the European Parliament ence has led to the rec- a eurozone-only budget
that "the euro area needs ognition that the currency within the broader EU bud-
a fiscal instrument" to keep union lacked key elements get, were "first steps." Both
member countries afloat when it was created in 1999 proposals envisage funds
during sudden shocks like as an ambitious project to that are only a fraction of
the 2007-08 global financial further integrate the Euro- the eurozone economy,
crisis. pean Union's economy. and the Commission's pro-
Such a fiscal pot, he said, Eurozone countries that hit posal is for budget support
needs to be big enough recessions can't take the in the form of loans that
and should deploy auto- usual steps of cutting cen- would have to be paid
matically when trouble tral bank interest rates or back.
strikes, but must not encour- letting their currencies fall Draghi said that the mul-
age irresponsible spending in value, since they no lon- tiple proposals suggested