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I noticed in many online ads that sales tax will be charged to NY residents. Why is NY the only state that must pay online sales tax?! Also, who passed this law?
Generally speaking only companies with a presence in that State ae required to charge their online (web) customers sales tax. If they have no presence in NY State, they do not have to collect sales tax from their customers.
New York decided that any retailer that pays commission to any New York person or company to refer customers to their website is considered to have a NY presence and thus required to collect NY sales tax. Amazon and others are fighting NY State in court to stop this.
It’s not the only state. If the merchant has a presence in a state that has a sales tax, they generally have to charge that sales tax. Many larger merchants have some kind of facility in lots of states (for example, a warehouse).
The tax is a “sales and use” tax, so if you use the goods in New York you have to pay the tax. Many states are cracking down on people who have been evading the tax by buying out of state and having the goods shipped to New York. The state hopes to get lots of revenue by forcing out of state merchants to collect the tax when they make the sale, rather than expecting people to voluntarily pay the tax when the merchandise arrives. The state needs the money to pay off everyone who needs to be pacified.
When you pay your NYS income tax, there’s a line for use tax. That’s for stuff you buy out of state without sales tax. It’s based on income and it’s pretty minimal — I paid $27 last year.
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