Joined May 2015
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Forum Thread
PSA: Newegg Sharing HISTORICAL Customer Purchase Histories with Foreign State Tax Collectors
February 17, 2018 at
08:30 AM
in
Computers
(5)
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I live in Connecticut and have been shopping online with Newegg since at least 2004 (and I believe a lot earlier than that). I learned the other day that Newegg voluntarily gave the State of CT its customer purchase history files without any legal mandate such as a warrant, subpoena, or court order. This has allowed CT to impose retroactive "use taxes" that circumvent the Supreme Court's holding in Quill. I knew that the politicians and bureaucrats in Hartford (the capital) are a bunch of blood sucking leeches, but I never expected Newegg to voluntarily share its customers' purchase data with them particularly in the absence of an enforceable criterium (i.e., physical presence within the state). The taxes I expect because insatiable blood-sucking parasites like politicians and bureaucrats don't care if they kill the host ... but when Newegg betrays its long term customers, that's another issue. I know some Marxists are going to criticize me for complaining about taxes, but if you can ignore your propaganda filled public school educations (and yes, I went to public school) and actually READ what I'm writing here, you'll see that I'm concerned about a business entity with established relationships betraying its customer base, not about taxes per se.
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Quote
Our Valued Connecticut Customers:
When House Bill No. 7312 was enacted, we determined the most efficient path to compliance was to provide aggregate past sales data to the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services. And while this satisfied our legal obligation to the state of Connecticut, we realize now it wasn't the best way to do right by our customers.
We know we can't undo our actions, but we've been working behind the scenes to find a better solution that fulfills Connecticut state tax obligations and also better protects the interests of our customers. To that end, we're pleased to announce that we believe Connecticut - as of March 19, 2018 - will no longer pursue collection of sales taxes (including penalties and interest) from Newegg's Connecticut customers relating to purchases made at Newegg during 2014-2016.
If you provide us a notice from Connecticut dated on or after March 19, 2018 relating to sales tax on purchases made at Newegg.com during 2014-2016, and if you have paid the taxes applicable to that notice, please reply directly to this email and we will help you seek a refund of the taxes paid. If you received a notice dated prior to March 19 and have yet to pay the taxes, we recommend that you talk to us before paying the tax.
We know many of you are upset with how this situation has been handled. We hope the actions outlined in this letter demonstrate Newegg's commitment to listen and respond to our valued customers.
Thank you,
Newegg
I got the "whole world is corrupt" feeling at that point...
Your best bet is to do exactly as you say. Move to a more friendly, less authoritarian state. Move down South.
They government already has a deal with apple for this. Where we get charged sales tax on iOS purchases.
Ended up being Amazon