Tax-Free PC's in Pennsylvania

tennisc writes "Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge proposes giving consumers two tax holidays on the purchase of new PC's. Wow! I hope all states take up the challenge!" Most of my friends in Philadelphia head down to Delaware to buy a computer, since there's no sales tax there, and it's only a 40-minute drive. This is still cool, though.

Comments

Finally!

[VAXGeek]

Now all those Amish can set up the Beowulf cluster of their dreams.

another tax break for the rich

[djinn87]

governor ridge once again tries to give a tax break to the rich while keeping up pretences of doing otherwise. you mean to tell me that the difference between someone buying and not buying a computer is the 6% tax and not the thousand dollar price tag? this only saves money for the people that can already afford computers.

perhaps if gov. ridge offered this only saying, "we're losing money to delaware because everyone in eastern pennsylvania is buying their computers there," or, "if you mail-order a computer, there is no tax. this is to give local businesses a chance at that business," i wouldn't complain. but, the article clearly states, "The tax-free holidays will give families who cannot normally afford the $1,800 average cost of a computer and related equipment to purchase them without having to pay the state's 6 percent sales tax." there is no mention of the opportunity at buying lower cost machines because, of course, this isn't the market ridge is aiming to help. and, the 6% becomes more negligible at $300 ($18).

if ridge were really interested in helping to give families that couldn't afford the computer a chance, perhaps he would say for two weeks the tax collected on computer sales would be alloted to families that can't afford, but are interested in buying. or maybe, for two weeks, the tax collected on computer sales will go to putting new computers in inner-city (or under-privileged) schools.

*sigh*

matt from pittsburgh, pa

Left wing dogma

[FallLine]

Why must you left wing types always polarize issues as the "rich" and the "poor". You fail to realize that there are a whole lot more shades in between. In any case, %6 is %6. The "rich" that you speak about are hardly going to get up in arms paying 240 dollars on a 4000 dollar machine, particularly when you consider that those individuals likely to buy a high end machine, and pay a premium for the latest and greatest are likely to have significantly more disposable income than the "poor". You might question the governor's thought process here, but it's unfair to banter about those kind of words.

Furthermore, I tire of all this crap about "computers in the classroom". When most of these inner city kids can't even read and write half decently, why are you worrying about whether or not they have computers? What about getting decent teachers first? Merely throwing money at the issue is not going to solve it. If anything, it distracts from the real problem.