Congressman Beto O'Rourke was an outspoken critic of the Republican tax reform bill. He voted against it because he thinks you should pay more of your hard earned money to the government. But, ironically, members of his own family were convicted of committing tax fraud. Gosh, that sounds like hypocrisy, doesn't it?
There’s been some debate swirling around Congress on the need to have a sales tax for on-line purchases. Under a 1992 Supreme Court decision, Quill v North Dakota, states can only collect sales taxes for purchases made outside the state, at the time via mail-order catalog because on-line retailers didn’t yet exist, if the business has a physical presence in that state. However, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of South Dakota vs Wayfair. South Dakota wants its sales tax from South Dakotans who buy stuff on-line.
To be fair, mega-online retailers like Amazon and WalMart do collect and remit sales taxes in the 45 states that have state sales taxes. However, about half of the commerce done on those sites, is done by small and medium-sized retailers, who may or may not collect taxes.
So, politicians have been lining up on both sides of the debate. The Kill Quill Movement (refers to the North Dakota case) includes people who want to place a burden on people who conduct business on-line by forcing them to collect sales tax. The other, free commerce crowd, do not want to place that kind of restriction on businesses.
The arguments for Kill Quill are that it will put on-line retailers on the same footing with brick and mortar retailers in each state, and, more importantly, each state can get its greedy paws on some of that sweet, sweet sales tax revenue. And wouldn’t it be great if each state can expand its bureaucracy to go make sure all the on-line retailers comply? Just like they do for the brick and mortar crowd.
Some of the people supporting Kill Quill may surprise you. For example, the Trump Administration is going to argue in FAVOR of allowing states to collect sales taxes on on-line purchases. Other supporters are not such a surprise.
Of course, I’m talking about Beta O’Rourke. Like most liberals, he’s absolutely in favor of new taxes and expanding the power of the State.
Except when it comes to his mother. She was convicted of tax fraud over a furniture store she owned and ran in El Paso.
Melissa O’Rourke owned and ran Charlotte’s Furniture when the store was charged (as a corporate entity) with structuring transactions to avoid reporting requirements. As the authorized representative of that entity, Ms. O’Rourke was found guilty of tax evasion in 2010, and fined $500,000. She ultimately agreed to pay $250,000.
Charlotte’s Furniture closed a couple of years ago, right before Beta announced his Senate run.. And that’s kind of sad because Charlotte’s Furniture was the anchor tenant in the shopping center that is owned by Beta and his mommy.
So, here we have a case of a liberal politician who’s claiming that he supports the idea of burdening small businesses with more reporting requirements when his own mother couldn’t even do that with her brick and mortar store.
I’m totally sure that Beta’s paid sales tax to California on all those shirts and hats he’s sold there, right?
Taxation is theft, people. And so is tax evasion. Just ask Beta’s mommy.