Spitzer Does Things On His (One) Terms!

Get rid of one problem and take on another that will surely boost those sagging numbers:

New Yorkers going Christmas shopping online at Amazon.com will find an 8.375% surprise at the virtual cash register, courtesy of Governor Spitzer, who is moving aggressively to collect Internet sales taxes that have gone widely unenforced.

Under a new policy, major electronic retailers, such as Amazon.com, will be required to collect sales tax on all purchases from New York. The policy, based on a novel legal theory, could hasten the end of the Internet’s era as a duty-free marketplace if other states follow New York’s lead. With the policy, New York immediately took the lead among states that are seeking to tax online commerce.

“I’d say this puts us at the front,” one state tax official, who requested anonymity, told The New York Sun.

Having pledged not to raise taxes, Mr. Spitzer is increasingly scrounging for ways to close a projected $4.3 billion deficit next year. State officials estimate that this latest initiative, which goes into effect in December, will bring in about $100 million more each year, split between state and local government tax revenue. Statewide, the sales tax averages about 8%, although in New York City it is 8.375%.

. . .

When it comes to charging sales tax, e-retailers have been held to the same old standard that the U.S. Supreme Court set for mail-order vendors: The seller only needs to collect the tax on purchases in states where the vendor has a physical presence, such as a storefront or salesman. New York is saying that it has found a way around that obstacle to tax collection. Many e-retailers may have unwittingly lost their exemption because of the way they direct traffic to their Web sites, according to a tax memo recently released by the state’s tax department.

At issue is the “affiliate program” used by many e-retailers. Web site operators can provide a link to an e-retailer in return for a commission on any sale resulting from customers using the link. While the affiliate program may consist of little more than a non-descript advertisement on the computer screen, the tax consequences may be huge: New York state says it is the equivalent of having an instate salesperson.

“It’s just treating the affiliate the same way we would treat any other type of sales representative,” Mr. Spitzer’s budget director, Paul Francis, said in an interview.

I Am Rubber You Are Glue, Your Words Bounce Off Me And Stick To You

Hizzoner, proving his diplomatic bona fides, insists that nothing is off the table:

New York City’s mayor says the United Nations building is such a hazard that he’s threatening to suspend school visits unless conditions inside are fixed by early next year, according to a media report.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned that field trips will stop if sprinklers, smoke detectors, exit signs, emergency lighting and other safety features aren’t put in place by January and March of 2008, The Washington Times reported Monday.

The 1950s-era complex is reportedly missing many basic fire protection systems, including smoke detectors and sprinklers on several floors. The Times reported that the U.N. had been flagged for 866 violations, and the mayor estimated that fewer than 20 percent had been taken care of so far.

Location Scout: United Nations.

What About A Live Taping Of SNL, The Daily Show Or Even Letterman?

Lady, if you can’t figure out something else to do in this town . . . really:

As if the Grinch really had stolen Christmas, children cried and parents were crestfallen. Confusion, surprise and anger played at box offices, and dispossessed theatergoers shared the sidewalks with grim pickets yesterday as the stagehands’ strike shut down most of Broadway’s plays and musicals.

Up and down the Great White Way, and in the side streets where Broadway’s theaters are clustered, marquees fell dark and the electric playland of Times Square — normally pulsing with anticipation for Saturday matinees — was a canyon of gloom in Midtown Manhattan’s petrified forest.

Crowds of American and foreign tourists, busloads from suburbia, throngs who had come by train or cab with children or grandchildren were caught off guard by the walkout and abruptly drawn into chaos: scrambling for refunds, seeking tickets to the few shows that remained open and looking for other attractions to ease the disappointment.

. . .

“It’s very disappointing,” said Linda Partner of Port Royal, Pa., who rode four hours on a bus with her three sisters and their two children to see “The Little Mermaid” at the Lunt-Fontanne at Broadway and 46th Street. “We don’t have a clue where to go or what to do.”

Corona Officials Groan; Fledgling Weiss Beer Lobby Fears Repercussions

This one of those stories that make people elsewhere realize that New York is ridiculous:

Moonshine is the kind of cozy, lived-in Brooklyn bar that allowed customers to bring dogs inside and meat for the grill outside, both of which, it would come to learn, are against New York City health department regulations. But no one foresaw one violation uncovered during a recent surprise inspection of the Red Hook tavern.

It was tucked within the array of more common infractions on the inspectors’ forms for which Moonshine was cited: the grills, the “live dog” in the bar, fruit flies and “7 mice excreta” in the basement. If widely enforced, it is not an exaggeration to say that the rule would radically change the way thousands of bartenders do one small but vital part of their job every single day.

“A male worker observed having bare-hand contact with one slice of ready-to-eat lime while placing on top of beer bottle for patron in bar,” the citation, dated Oct. 9, states. Bare-hand contact? How else is a bartender supposed to get a ready-to-eat lime slice into a bottle of Corona for a patron? According to the health department, there are two solutions.

Plastic gloves or tongs.

In other words, every time a bartender in New York City puts a lime slice in that Corona with bare hands, he or she is breaking the law.

The exact number of bars cited for improper handling of limes was not available from the department, but it is not many, said Elliott Marcus, associate commissioner for the department’s food safety bureau. “Every health code across the country, and probably the world, says that you shouldn’t have bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food,” he said. And lime in the beer bottle, simply put, is considered food.

Incentivizing Doing What You’re Supposed To — And Enriching Cellphone Companies While We’re At It

It could be worse — they could be offering candy and sweets instead:

In New York City public schools, cellphones are considered contraband. But free cellphone airtime could be a reward for high-performing students if the city adopts the newest idea from the Education Department’s chief equality officer.

That official, Roland G. Fryer, a Harvard economist who is leading the city’s program to pay cash to some students who do well on standardized tests, told an undergraduate economics class at Harvard last month that his next proposal would include a plan to give cellphones to students, and reward free minutes to those who do well — an idea that is at odds with one of the city’s most contentious school policies, the ban on students having cellphones in school.

The ban has been attacked by parents and politicians, who call it a draconian policy that endangers students. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who would have to approve Dr. Fryer’s proposal, has repeatedly refused to budge on the ban despite the outcries.