Morally responsible?

[ausername4]

I suffer from scrupulosity and am trying to work out the situation below. I think I have come to a logical, non-scrupulous conclusion and just wanted independent opinion.

In some US states you are required to self-report consumption taxes on items that you purchased for use in-state. Basically you pay the difference between the tax you paid and the actual sales tax rate of the state. When putting together a Christmas list, I typically put actual links to items. With the item being a gift, it’s actually an odd scenario of them not buying something to use themselves, but it wouldn’t make any sense for you to give someone a gift then tell them go pay your taxes when you get home. (I haven’t actually legally verified that, but just my assumption). I would assume the gift giver would just pay use tax as if they were using it in-state.

Would I be morally responsible/sinful for providing links to online shopping sites if I don’t think they actually plan to pay their use tax? In border state locations this could also apply with the proliferation of pick up in store options where you could be picking up in store where sales tax might be lower than your home state. My thinking is that I would not be responsible. It would be the purchaser’s responsibility to pay their appropriate taxes on their purchases. I am giving specific links to items/sites, but I am not saying don’t pay your use taxes or go to this site so you can save on sales tax (which would not be true since you’re supposed to pay them. Perhaps there might be a moral obligation on my end to at least let them know about the use tax (I went many years without knowing about it). Beyond that the responsibility is on them.

 

[centurionguard]

I suffer from scrupulosity and am trying to work out the situation below. I think I have come to a logical, non-scrupulous conclusion and just wanted independent opinion.

In some US states you are required to self-report consumption taxes on items that you purchased for use in-state. Basically you pay the difference between the tax you paid and the actual sales tax rate of the state. When putting together a Christmas list, I typically put actual links to items. With the item being a gift, it’s actually an odd scenario of them not buying something to use themselves, but it wouldn’t make any sense for you to give someone a gift then tell them go pay your taxes when you get home. (I haven’t actually legally verified that, but just my assumption). I would assume the gift giver would just pay use tax as if they were using it in-state.

Would I be morally responsible/sinful for providing links to online shopping sites if I don’t think they actually plan to pay their use tax? In border state locations this could also apply with the proliferation of pick up in store options where you could be picking up in store where sales tax might be lower than your home state. My thinking is that I would not be responsible. It would be the purchaser’s responsibility to pay their appropriate taxes on their purchases. I am giving specific links to items/sites, but I am not saying don’t pay your use taxes or go to this site so you can save on sales tax (which would not be true since you’re supposed to pay them. Perhaps there might be a moral obligation on my end to at least let them know about the use tax (I went many years without knowing about it). Beyond that the responsibility is on them.

I don’t live in the United States but going by what you wrote in your post seems somewhat confusing. In my country you pay taxes on your total income.

What and how you decide to spend or purchase on your Net Income is none of the government’s business. Even with Online shopping your going to pay for state taxes before receiving any item.
Even before you receive you bi-weekly employee cheque appropriate taxes are automatically deducted before you receive your net income cheque unless your self-employed. Be self-employed is a whole different responsible strategy of setting aside money to pay your federal taxes. Perhaps someone else can answer your question far better than I can.

irs.gov/taxstats/

 

[1ke]

Stop overthinking everything. That is definitely scrupulosity. STOP.

Tell your parents or family what you want, and let the rest go. What they pay or don’t pay is not your responsibility.

These are gifts to you, be at peace.

Please talk to a priest trained to help people with scrupulosity.