More Taxes to Kill the Economy: "Activity Taxes"

Via allbusiness.com:

"When Barry Godwin, the Comptroller of a South Carolina pleasure boat company, received a call from a New Jersey revenue agent last July, he could hardly believe his ears. A truckload of boats bound for Massachusetts had been stopped at a weigh station, and the agent was demanding $46,200 in “back taxes.”

Goodwin’s 240-employee company, Stingray Boats, has never had a physical presence in New Jersey. But the revenue agent had determined through a conversation with the driver that Stingray had a “business nexus” with the state because it supplied boats to an independent New Jersey dealer. Therefore, it owed state taxes. It was either pay up, or the boats would be impounded, he was told. The company had little choice; it paid, he said.

“The manner in which the State of New Jersey acted is commonly defined as extortion,” Goodwin told the House Small Business Committee this week."

Apparently activity taxes weren't common until around 2005. How much do you think this small business owner will want to drive through New Jersey when the tolls are eight times higher and the activity taxes suck tens of thousands of dollars out of him?

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