Tax and Coders with Steve DelBianco
Carl and Richard talk to Steve DelBianco about taxation and software development - including the new Marketplace Fairness Act. But first the focus is on the history of sales tax, which as Steve explains, is focused on physical goods transacted in person. The first crisis of sales tax came in the 30s when catalog sales became popular and more consumers starting buying products from other states. This presents the idea of Use Tax, effective a self-declared sales tax collection process for good you buy out-of-state. Yeah, that's right, you're suppose to assess sales tax on yourself! Steve has been involved for more than a decade in the effort to modernize sales taxes to handle internet sales, which leads to the current situation around the Marketplace Fairness Act - which is not at all what the name should be. The states are trying to garner the right to collect taxes and demand from anyone in any state - and this law might actually pass! Check out the links below for ways to make your voice heard.
Guests:
Steve DelBianco
Steve DelBianco is Executive Director of NetChoice, a trade association of leading e-commerce platforms and online businesses. Steve has become a well-known expert on Internet governance, online consumer protection, and Internet taxation. He’s provided expert testimony in 14 Congressional hearings and in dozens of state legislative hearings. And Steve regularly enters the lion’s den at the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board, where he’s the lone opponent of new tax burdens on Internet commerce. Before NetChoice, Steve was a program me and founder of Financial Dynamics, an IT consulting firm that he grew to over $20 million in revenues by 1997, when it was acquired by a national firm. Today, Steve continues to advise and invest in early stage companies as a partner in venture capital funds. Steve holds degrees in Engineering and in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School.
Links:
- Baxter Folds a Shirt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr7U9pQtwq8
- NetChoice http://netchoice.org/
- We R Here Coalition http://werherecoalition.org/