Free Republic

Vista Outdoors is one of the major players in ammunition production in the United States and the world. It owns CCI and Federal. With the decrease in demand for ammunition and for sporting goods, its stock price has dropped. A year ago it was over $50 per share. This spring it fell below $20 for a brief period.Most of the drop is likely due to a decreased demand for ammunition. Vista has a strategy to increase ammunition sales, or at least to keep market share and increase profits. From lmtribune.com: Independent retailers and e-commerce will play a key role...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has an internet sales tax bill on a fast track. That’s right, these Socialists never sleep. They are out to squeeze every penny from the American people that they can. The Marketplace Fairness Act (Ironically, this is anything but fairness) may receive a vote on the Senate floor this week and since it’s after your money it has Barack Obama’s full support. The MFA calls upon states to join the existing Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement or follow what are essentially five rules: Notify retailers in advance of any rate changes within the...

A Senate committee listened Tuesday to the pros and cons of expanding Maryland's sales tax base to include more services, as well as goods purchased over the Internet. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee spent the day in Annapolis receiving briefings on taxes, the federal debt ceiling, education funding and toll increases. Legislative committees meet occasionally between the 90-day General Assembly sessions. Tangible products, but few services, sold by Maryland retailers are taxed at 6 percent. This year, the sales tax is predicted to generate $4.2 billion, about 30 percent of the state's general fund revenue, according to the Department...

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs in 2010 sent Amazon a bill for $269 million in taxes plus penalties and interest for sales made through Amazon to Texas residents from 2005 to 2009, the Statesman.com reports. Amazon responded this month by announcing it will close its physical presence in Texas and take 119 jobs with it. That presence is a warehouse that is one of 52 fulfillment centers the Seattle-based online retail giant maintains. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot force online and mail order retailers to collect sales tax in states where it has no stores, warehouses or...

Today's must see TV comes from the following interview of Pimm Fox on the consumer and the economy with retail expert Howard Davidowitz, who in 10 minutes provides more quality content and logical thought than we have seen from CNBC guests in probably all of 2010 (except of course for that one time when Erin Burnett kicked out Mike Pento, but that's a different story). Where does one start? Probably at the end: "I am not surprised by the strength of retail sales, because i knew that 30% of consumers are responsible for retail sales, and these 30% did much...

If the National Retail Federation (NRF) has its way, selling goods online will soon become far less anonymous and significantly more onerous for any online auction or discount website. The NRF has announced its support and testified in favor of three bills: H.R. 6713, known as the E-fencing Enforcement Act; H.R. 6491, aka Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008; and S.3434, the "Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008." As the titles suggest, all of these bills are (supposedly) aimed at fighting organized crime rings, but don't worry—the burdens the NRF would impose upon you are for your own good....

CHAPTER 10A - COLLECTION OF STATE CIGARETTE TAXES § 375. Definitions. § 376. Reports to State tobacco tax administrator. (a) Contents. (b) Presumptive evidence. § 377. Penalties. § 378. Jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations  Sec. 375. Definitions For the purposes of this chapter - (1) The term ''person'' includes corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals. (2) The term ''cigarette'' means any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco, irrespective of size or shape and whether or not such tobacco is flavored, adulterated, or mixed with any other ingredient,...

Activist Marc Emery lights up a large marijuana cigarette in front of London Ontario Police headquarters on Aug. 26, 2003... Vancouver — Marc Emery, Canada's most prominent pro-marijuana activist, is facing the possibility of life imprisonment in the United States for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet to U.S. customers. In a stunning development, RCMP officers arrested the self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot” in Halifax yesterday after a U.S. federal grand jury indicted him... The charges stem from Mr. Emery's lucrative sale of marijuana seeds, an activity he has carried on from his Vancouver base with minimal legal penalty for 10...