Taxable Talk

It hasn't been a good year for Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY).

First, he's been accused of using state troopers to spy on political opponents. Next, he proposes to give illegal aliens drivers licenses—a measure that's overwhelmingly not supported by New York residents. Eventually he abandons the idea. Then he supports a stretching of the definition of "nexus" for state sales taxes to include affiliate programs. Yesterday, he dropped the idea—at least for the time being.

Republicans were going to paint Spitzer as the "Grinch who stole Christmas." Spitzer won't have to deal with that, for now.

However, New Yorkers should still watch what happens in Albany. The State Department of Taxation and Finance still believes they're right in their expansive view of nexus. This plan will likely reappear sometime in 2008.

Governor Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) is leading the way. But it's a taxing way. The New York Department of Taxation and Finance says that any company that has an affiliate program that has any affiliates in New York must charge sales tax on sales shipped to New York.

Currently, companies must charge sales tax when a business has a "nexus" in the state. That's usually caused by having a physical presence (an office) or employees in that state. Amazon.com doesn't have an office or employees in New York. Thus, they haven't charged New Yorkers sales tax.

However, New York now says that having an affiliate in the state is enough to give a company a nexus in New York. This is an interesting theory, but it could run into difficulties. Glenn Reynolds, the Instanpundit, thinks it wouldn't stand up in court.

In any case, Governor Spitzer is looking at a $4 billion deficit for next year and has pledged not to increase taxes. The Department of Taxation and Finance calls this a policy clarification. I hope they have a big budget for legal fees as that's likely where this is headed.