Has anyone else got a call from Minimax asking for money? (Morphed into an OT thread)

[John Callahan]

In Maine if it crawls, walks, is deceased, animal, vegetable, or mineral there will be some sort of tax on it. Awhile back someone from the state came into my brother's business.......... he now has to "license" his air compressor at $100+ a year.

[Pat Germain]

I'm originally from California and I have a lot of family still living there. Retroactive taxation is typical modus operendi for the state of CA.

One of my cousins is a CA resident who has been living and working in Japan for many years. Awhile back, CA got mad because wealthy Hollywood types were moving all their money offshore, collection a monthly "allowance" and claiming only that allowance as income. CA had a cow, changed the tax law and MADE IT RETROACTIVE for several years.

Thus, my cousin in Japan got a tax bill for several years previous from the state of California because he makes his money "offshore".

This situation with MM is not a scam. It's not illegal. It's just typical California. Just yesterday I heard a member of the CA state legislature on the radio talking about their current budget crisis. He just kept saying over and over, "Raise taxes, raises taxes, raise taxes. Can I make it any simpler? Raise taxes!".

So, it should come as no surprise when you buy a big ticket machine and get a retroactive tax bill from the state of CA.

[Rick Gifford]

So what happens if this is 100% legit, and you throw the bill in the trash?

What are they going to do?

I doubt something like this could be held up in court. But Im no legal expert.

[Ben Rafael]

So what happens if this is 100% legit, and you throw the bill in the trash?

What are they going to do?

I doubt something like this could be held up in court. But Im no legal expert.

You're not from California, are you?
They will send you a second bill, if you disregard that then They will go after your bank accounts, attach your wages....if that fails they will put a padlock on your home. No home? They will have you arrested.

You have no idea how much hassles I've had with california tax authorities and I've always paid what I have owed. The agencies here share info and if one of them makes an error the others come after you whole hog and you have to clear up the error with each and every agency. When I say that the govt can go to the devil I have good and legitimate reason for it. The worst is that you have to prove that they are wrong.

Also, there is a story in the L.A. Times today about Nevada trying to get businesses to move out of Calif to Nevada because of Calif tax and business burdens. You can see it online at latimes.com for those who are interested.

[David DeCristoforo]

It may not be a scam or "illegal" but it's still "bad business". The state of California (and other states as well) may be changing the rules but California has always had a sales tax. It has always been the responsibility of the retailer to collect this tax at the time of the sale and pay it to the state. Obviously, it is the customer who pays the tax. But how many times do you look at your receipt to verify that you were charged the tax? I still think that, regardless of the legitimacy of the tax liability itself, it is "funky" to come back on a customer a year and a half after the fact and demand additional money.

YM

[Ben Rafael]

It is not the responsibility of a retailer with zero presence in calif to collect the sales tax. It is the responsibility of the customer.

[Mike Heidrick]

Send them back an invoice showing you paid.
Write "Sales tax included "on the invoice, make a copy, and drop it in the mail. Done.

[Pat Germain]

Ben is spot-on here. Because the state of CA has the population and the economy of a large nation, they have a lot of power and they use it. I don't want to get spanked here for talking politics. I'm just stating facts. I'm not giving my opinion.

If the state of CA decides you owe them taxes, you pay them. It's that simple. The consequences are just too harsh to ignore it. Unfortunately, you can't simply tell them you paid the tax during purchase and be done with it. California is the most regulated state in the country. It's almost like Switzerland where everything is either prohibited or mandatory. If the state decides you owe more, you pay more and, unlike most other states, they have an army of enforcers to make sure you pay.

[Tom Veatch]

You're not from California, are you?
They will send you a second bill, if you disregard that then They will go after your bank accounts, attach your wages....if that fails they will put a padlock on your home. No home? They will have you arrested.

You have no idea how much hassles I've had with california tax authorities ...

I didn't see any indication that the OP was dealing with the CA tax authority. Perhaps I missed that somewhere along the line, but I got the impression the communication was from Minimax, not CA

[Jim O'Dell]

Tom, you are correct, but this discussion has transformed to CA being the one asking for the money through Mini Max, and if you don't pay through MM, you can, and will pay to CA. I'm interested to see MM's official word on these proceedings. Hopefully tomorrow? Jim.

[Jim Dunn]

Nobody has called MM and asked to clear this up??

[Mark Engel]

If the state decides you owe more, you pay more and, unlike most other states, they have an army of enforcers to make sure you pay.

Maybe if they had fewer members in their 'army of enforcers' they wouldn't need as much tax revenue to keep the state budget balanced.

I think I read something somewhere once upon a time that about 35% of the moneys paid in taxes are used to enforce the payment of those taxes.

[Mike Gabbay]

Hear me now and believe me later! Don't be a girly man and think you can mess with the GOVENATOR! I'll be back!

As much as I hate to say it, we are supposed to pay sales tax for these purchases. In the mid-Atlantic states (VA) there is a lot of purchasing of furniture directly from NC. At one time, the VA state troopers would stop furniture trucks to verify who the buyer was and then the state would bill them for the sales tax. I was always under the impression that your home state was the state that would collect the tax not the state of the retailer. In the end you probably should pay it. It beats the longer term hassles of the tax man.

[Scott Whiting]

A bit of history here: Some years back a small abrasives company by the name of Klingspor lost it's argument with the state of Arizona that having sales people in this state did indeed constitute a presence here. They had to open their books to the state. In order to reduce the fines they went out and tried to collect the taxes. I had in fact paid use tax on those purchases and had the paperwork to prove it. Many of the larger companies that had not paid it were somehow selected for a "random" audit of their use taxes. So it is not just California that goes looking for lost revenues.

[Ben Rafael]

A bit of history here: Some years back a small abrasives company by the name of Klingspor lost it's argument with the state of Arizona that having sales people in this state did indeed constitute a presence here. They had to open their books to the state. In order to reduce the fines they went out and tried to collect the taxes. I had in fact paid use tax on those purchases and had the paperwork to prove it. Many of the larger companies that had not paid it were somehow selected for a "random" audit of their use taxes. So it is not just California that goes looking for lost revenues.

True. But calif goes after people even if they dont live in calif.
This is a slight aside, but, they have gone after people who have worked in cal, after they retired they moved to other states. The calif tax authorities billed these no longer calif residents for taxes due on their retirement earnings that were saved during their residency in calif. I dont remember how high in the court system this got, but the courts told calif to go pound sand.