more on It's Back to the Future for Internet Taxation

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jim Gillogly <jim () cryptogram org>
Organization: Banzai Institute
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 11:59:11 -0800
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] It's Back to the Future for Internet Taxation

Michael Geist <mgeist () uottawa ca> wrote:
> Fairness says it's time to tax goods sold online
...
> The governments argue that the tax avoidance is particularly problematic
> since it creates an unfair playing field that places local businesses at a
> competitive disadvantage when compared with their counterparts in non-taxing
> jurisdictions.

Fairness is a red herring, especially for small- to moderate-sized purchases
such as the Borders example he cites later, because people who purchase
at a local business do not have to pay shipping, which can be larger than
the local tax.  While the e-business may not need to pay sales tax, they
need to reduce their profit margin to make the deal better for the
e-buyer, who will have to pay shipping and lose instant gratification.

Fairness is not the issue, but the real reason for an increased interest
in internet taxation is easy to see.  My wife, a CPA, responds to
complaints about the unfairness of many aspects of the tax code with
"It wasn't designed to be fair -- it was designed to raise revenue."

As more businesses fail and more people lose their jobs, more
jurisdictions find their revenues decreasing, and in order to meet
the shortfall they need to find more things to tax.  Here's one.
-- 
    Jim Gillogly
    3 Astron S.R. 2003, 19:42
    12.19.10.1.19, 5 Cauac 12 Cumku, Third Lord of Night


------ End of Forwarded Message

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/